Morrisons Chief Bows Out on a High
by Liam Bailey
2008-03-09 19:10:00 **news**
Sir Ken Morrison, the man who turned Wm Morrison's into one of Britain's biggest supermarket chains, from its small beginnings as a Bradford market stall is retiring. He will mark the end of his 56 year career with a 1bn pound buy-back of company shares.
The buy-back plan will be officially unveiled on Thursday when the company reports a 70% increase in its pre-tax profits on the figure this time last year; results allowing Ken Morrison to go out with a bang when he steps down officially the day after the meeting.
Many analysts have commented on Morrison's being too lightly geared, reckoning the company could cope with an extra 1bn net debt on its balance sheet, especially since it owns 98% of its stores freehold. The buy-back plan is a mixture of capitalizing on a slight fall in share prices from a year long rain of above 300p, to 295p, and also battening down the hatches in case of a rough stock-market ride as global markets slow.
