11 May 2017

Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC ('Morrisons')

Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016/17

In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.1, the following documents have today been posted or otherwise been made available to shareholders:

·    Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016/17

·    Notice of Annual General Meeting ('AGM')

·    Proxy Form

A copy of each of these documents has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm  

The Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016/17 are available to view on the Morrisons website at www.morrisons-corporate.com/annual-report-2017 which is easily navigable.

Full details of the meeting, including details of the resolutions to be considered are set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting 2017 which can be viewed on our website at www.morrisons-corporate.com/investor-centre/shareholder-information/generalmeetings

In accordance with Disclosure and Transparency Rule (DTR) 4.1, the Company's preliminary results announcement on the 9^th March 2017, included the following:

·    A condensed set of the Company's financial statements;

·    Information on important events that have occurred during the financial year and their impact on the financial statements;

·    Principal risks and uncertainties; and

·    Related party transactions.

That information, together with the information set out below which is extracted from the Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016/17, constitutes the material required by DTR 6.3.5. This must be communicated to the media in unedited full text.

This announcement is not a substitute for reading the full Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016/17. Page and note references in the text below refer to page numbers in the Annual Report and the Financial Statements 2016/17. To view the preliminary announcement, slides of the results presentation and the webcast please visit www.morrisons-corporate.com/Investor-centre/.

Statement of Directors' responsibilities in respect of the Annual Report and Financial Statements

The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and regulation.

Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial 52 week period. Under that law the Directors have prepared the Group financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union and Group financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework, and applicable law). Under company law the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Group and Company and of the profit or loss of the Group and Company for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the Directors are required to:

·    select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

·    state whether applicable IFRSs as adopted by the European Union have

been followed for the Group financial statements and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 101, have been followed for the Company financial statements, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

·    make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and

·    prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Group and Company will continue in business.

The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Group and Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Group and Company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements and the Directors' remuneration report comply with the Companies Act 2006 and, as regards the Group financial statements, Article 4 of the IAS Regulation.

The Directors are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Group and Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Group and Company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

The Directors consider that the Annual Report and accounts, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced and understandable and provides the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Group and Company's position and performance, business model and strategy.

Each of the Directors, whose names and functions are listed in the Directors' report confirm that, to the best of their knowledge:

·    the Group financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit of the Group; and

·    the Annual Report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Group and Company, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that it faces.

In the case of each Director in office at the date the Directors' report is approved:

·    so far as the Director is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Group and Company's auditors are unaware; and

·    they have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a Director in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Group and Company's auditors are aware of that information.

 END