Morrisons sales rise for eighth straight quarter as it continues to gain on Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda

Bradford-based firm is turning around the performance of its more than 500 UK stores while also pursuing online and wholesale markets

The retailer is the fastest growing of the Big Four supermarkets (Getty)

Morrisons, Britain’s fourth largest supermarket group, on Thursday reported another rise in quarterly sales, its eighth straight quarter of underlying growth, though its rate of growth slowed a little.

The grocer said like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.5 per cent in the 13 weeks to 29 October, its fiscal third quarter. That compared to analysts’ forecasts of 2.1-3.1 per cent and growth in the previous quarter of 2.6 per cent.

Morrisons’ like-for-like sales have now been positive for two straight years as the management team led by chief executive David Potts has delivered a revival.

The retailer, based in Bradford, is turning around the performance of its more than 500 UK stores while also pursuing online and wholesale markets. It trails Tesco, Sainsbury‘s and Asda in market share. However, according to industry data it is currently the fastest growing of Britain’s Big Four supermarkets.

“I am confident our plans to keep serving customers better will enable us to continue the strong momentum of the year so far, into the important fourth quarter,” said Potts.

Prior to Thursday’s update analysts’ average forecast for full year underlying pre-tax profit was £371m, up from £337m in 2016-17.

Reuters