NEW Morrisons boss David Potts, who starts at the troubled Bradford-based grocer on Monday, has been charged with revitalising the fortunes of its core supermarkets which will be his main focus.

He will arrive at Morrisons headquarters on Gain Lane after the company yesterday revealed a loss of £792 million in 2014 after writing down the value of its store estate in the face of tough market conditions.

Recently appointed chairman Andrew Higginson, who ousted former chief executive Dalton Philips, said the company's revival would depend on it "being Morrisons" - meaning greater emphasis on its fresh food offering, ensuring its shelves were fully stocked and continued price cutting.

COMMENT: CORE VALUES CAN BE THE KEY FOR MORRISONS

Mr Higginson - like David Potts a former Tesco man - said Morrisons was at its peak when led by Sir Ken Morrison and was the fifth largest grocer (it is now the fourth) with a strong Northern bias - but denied it would go back to that.

He said Morrisons would build on the heritage of being in tune with shoppers to win back customers, including stronger promotion of its fresh food offering, including in-store butchers, bakers and fishmongers, and highlighting the fact that it processes more than half of its own brand products.

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In the 12 months to February 1, Morrisons suffered another year of falling sales as underlying profits - excluding the £1.3 billion one-off property hit - fell 52 per cent to £345 million .

Total turnover was down 4.9 per cent at £16.8 billion, with store sales, excluding fuel, 3.2 per cent lower at £13 billion. Lower oil prices pushed down the value of fuel sales by 10.2 per cent to £3.6 billion.

Morrisons said it would stick to its three-year £1 billion price cutting programme which had so far seen 1,200 items reduced by an average of 17 per cent . It also aims to cut costs by £1 billion.

Morrisons is to close 23 unidentified under-performing M Local convenience stores with the loss of 300 jobs, having recently disclosed plans to shut ten smaller supermarkets this year. The roll-out of convenience stores would be paused while better locations were found and the offering improved.

Mr Higginson said: "Last year's trading environment was tough and we don't expect any change this year. However, Morrisons is a strong, distinctive business - we own most of our supermarkets, have strong cash flow, and are famous with customers for great quality fresh food at low prices. This gives us a good platform.

"David Potts joins as chief executive next week. Under his leadership, we will focus on building trading momentum and being more like the Morrisons our customers expect."

Like-for-like sales were down 5.9 per cent across the year but the trend in the final quarter showed signs of improvement with a decline of 2.6 per cent.

Morrisons said consumer confidence was recovering but with real disposable incomes still short of pre-2008 levels it said customers are unlikely to return to old shopping habits in the near term with shopping more frequently set to continue.

Morrisons increased its total dividend payment by five per cent to 13.65p a share but warned that it commitment for this year was to pay "not less than 5p a share".

Phil Dorrell, director of retail consultants Retail Remedy, said: "This is a rout, not a reversal. With the most dated stores and weakest business strategy of the old guard grocers, Morrisons has truly been put to the sword by the rise of Aldi and Lidl.

"Despite its multiple problems, Morrisons remains a solid business - or at least it would be if it could get its offer right. It needs an overhaul to convince people it is attractive again."