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Morrisons shows slower Christmas growth

Supermarket chain Morrisons has reported slower growth over the Christmas period, and remain cautious heading into 2012.

The Bradford-based grocer reported that like-for-like sales rose by just 0.7%, excluding fuel, in the six weeks leading up to January 1; as opposed to a 2.4% increase in its financial third quarter.

In what they described as a “challenging period for the consumer” Morrisons said sharp prices and promotional offers had driven an extra 800,000 customers per week over Christmas.

Chief Executive Officer, Dalton Philips said: “I am pleased that in a difficult trading environment we have continued to grow our business and have delivered another good performance in a very tough market.

“At Christmas, when customers are even more focused on great quality food at outstanding value, we really need to serve our customers well.

“We’ve done that and I thank all our 130,000 colleagues for their outstanding efforts.”

Morrisons continued to rely on their value food products, whereas rivals Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys rely more heavily on the sale non-food items.

Pre-Christmas results for these rival retailers are to be released later this week.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .