Morrisons beats Christmas trading expectations and sees sales increase

Bradford-based supermarket chain Morrisons has beat expectations and reported a slight sales increase over the Christmas Period, beating its results a year earlier.

In the nine weeks ending on January 3rd, the supermarket chain saw like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rise by 0.2%. It was previously predicted that Morrisons would see a 2% drop in like-for-like sales, and a third quarter decline of 2.6%.

However, due to the disposal of 140 M local stores and previously announced supermarket closures, ales contribution from net new space was down by 1.4%.

But Morrisons also claimed that customers were beginning to return to its stores, with the like-for-like number of transactions up 1.3% over the Christmas period in its core supermarkets. In addition, online sales grew nearly 100% year-on-year.

The supermarket chain is still undergoing a restructure within its management, since the start of 2015/16 around 800 head office roles have been cut.

Before the head office restructuring and store closures cost of £60m, Morrisons still expects underlying profit before tax for the full year to be in the range of £295m-£310m.

David Potts, Chief Executive, said :“We are pleased with our improved trading performance over the Christmas period. While there is of course much more to do, we are making important progress in improving all aspects of the shopping trip, and our customers tell us they are pleased with the changes. In addition, we have made further progress in debt reduction, and our financial position is strong and getting stronger.

“I would like to thank our colleagues for their very hard work and dedication, both in serving customers so well over the busy Christmas period and then again in helping their communities, especially in the north of Britain where the flooding has been so severe.”