Supermarket chain Morrisons today unveiled plans to open 1.35m sq ft of stores over the next two years.

The chain today reported pretax profits of £655m for the year ending 1 February 2009 compared with £612m for the previous year.

It said it is planning to open 350,000 sq ft of new retail space in the coming year in addition to the 500,000 sq ft of shops it bought from Co-operative Group.

The company also said it is planning to open a further 500,000 sq ft of shops in 2010/2011.

Chief Executive, Marc Bolland, said: ‘Our focus on fresh food and value appeals to shoppers everywhere and provides a strong platform to take Morrisons from national to nationwide.’

In the past year the company has opened nine new stores and 90,000 sq ft of sales extensions.