Morrisons scores highly in company ratings

The Bradford-based supermarket chain has been placed in the “Premier League” of UK retailers by Company Watch, an organisation which rates companies’ financial health.

Morrisons, which has 79 points out of 100 on the Company Watch table, came second in the five-strong Premier League. Morrisons’ score last year was 82.

The grocer, which has 450 stores in the UK, has fared better than its main supermarket rivals in recent months because it sells relatively small amounts of non-food items, an area which has been hard-hit as consumers tighten their belts.

It has also benefited from longer opening hours and its ongoing expansion, which has led to the opening of more stores in southern England and the first trial convenience store, called M-Local. Topping the Company Watch table is Zara UK, the fashion chain, which achieved a score of 91, a big increase on the 59 it recorded last year.

Also placed in Company Watch’s Premier League are H&M UK (76 points), John Lewis (73 points) and J Sainsbury (70 points).

Tesco comes second in Company Watch’s five-strong Championship Table with 60 points, while troubled Blacks Leisure props up the table with a rating of 0.

In a statement to accompany the table, Company Watch said:

“With the first Christmas trading statements from UK retailers starting this week, we will soon know how much heavy price discounting has hit profit margins of many leading UK retailers.”

According to Company Watch, it is probable that some more well-known retailers will struggle to get through 2012, as “battle fatigue” takes its toll on retailers.

Company Watch expects the total number of UK corporate insolvencies to rise to 27,500 in 2012, an increase of 18 per cent on the figure for the year to September 2011. Nick Hood, the head of external affairs at Company Watch, said yesterday: “With so many negative pressures bearing down on consumer spending and the peak Christmas trading season now behind them, it is difficult to see how the more financially-fragile retailers will make it through the barren retail winter.

“Their bankers, suppliers, landlords and the trade insurers will all be focusing on which companies to support and how to mitigate their potential losses on the less fortunate retailers.”