Supermarket says it is on good trajectory, with c-store programme moving apace

Morrisons has reported an improved set of sales figures for the first quarter of 2023.

Morrisons

Morrisons

The supermarket announced total revenue up 3.4 per cent to £4.7bn. Like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 0.1 per cent, representing a substantial improvement on the five per cent decline seen a year ago. 

The results come as the retailer reached the milestone of 500 Morrisons Daily convenience stores this week. There are now 350 former McColl’s stores - acquired in May 2022 - that are trading as Morrisons Daily, with around 10 new conversions every week.

Chief executive David Potts said: ”We still have plenty of work to do, but momentum in the business is now building with an improving trajectory over the last three quarters and like-for-like sales now in positive territory.

”Our market share has stabilised, our inflation rate is below our peers, and Morrisons’ traditional competitiveness, colour and dynamism is steadily returning to every part of the business.

“We have targeted £700m of cost savings over the next three years. This saving will help drive the performance of the business by enabling further investment in our loyalty programme, increasing the pace of McColl’s conversions, putting more hours into our stores, as well as mitigating the significant cost headwinds that we face.

“Although this has been another difficult period for consumers with inflation still at very high levels, we have continued with our programme of regular and meaningful price investments, enabled by a strong start to our cost savings programme.”