Morrisons beats rivals in festive sales

Morrisons said that booming sales of its fresh food and value lines, as well as strong sales in southern England and Scotland, helped it deliver market-busting underlying sales over the crucial Christmas trading period.

The Bradford-based grocer posted like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, up by 8.2 per cent for the 6 weeks to 4 January. Its underlying sales growth trounced Sainsbury's 4.5 per cent and Tesco's 2.5 per cent over different trading periods covering Christmas.

Morrisons said it had grabbed sales from all of its rivals, particularly Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. The grocer revealed it had attracted 2.2 million extra customers over the festive trading period.