LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - British supermarket group Morrisons, at the centre of a bid battle between two U.S. private equity firms, on Thursday reported a 37.1% fall in first-half profit, hurt by COVID-19 costs and lost profit in cafés, fuel and food-to-go. The group, which trails market leader Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda in annual revenue, said it made a profit before tax and exceptional items of 105 million pounds ($144.5 million) in the six months to Aug. 1, versus 167 million pounds in the same period last year.