Morrison set for 1 billion pound buyback--paper

LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Britain's fourth-largest food retailer WM Morrison Supermarkets (MRW.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is set to unveil a share buyback of up to 1 billion pounds ($2 billion) over two years when it reports results on Thursday, Sunday newspapers said.

Chairman Ken Morrison will bow out after 56 years at the group that bears his name, announcing its first share buyback programme in its 109-year history, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Morrison will be replaced by Ian Gibson as chairman.

The Sunday Times said analysts at UBS and ABN AMRO expect Morrison to announce a share buyback of between 500 million pounds and 1 billion pounds for the next two years.

Morrison's Chief Executive Marc Bolland signalled last year that some decision on a capital return to shareholders could be announced at this week's full-year results.

Analysts' consensus forecast for annual pretax profit is 558 million pounds, some 70 percent ahead of the previous year.

A Morrison's spokeswoman declined to comment. (Reporting by David Jones; Editing by David Cowell)