Successful turnarounds are often underpinned by good vibes as much as a sound strategy. So, you could probably forgive Morrisons for a little bit of window dressing in the press release revealing its full-year results.

It omitted statutory losses of £381m (a reduction of £33m on last year) in favour of bigging up the more favourable underlying EBITDA of £835m. Nevertheless, there was still plenty of progress, with like-for-like sales up 2.8%, pushing full-year revenues up 3.2% to £15.8bn. 

This was all delivered despite, as CEO Rami Baitiéh emphasised, £200m in unexpected “tough headwinds” courtesy of Rachel Reeves’ 2024 budget. Supermarket sales were also torpedoed in Q1 thanks to a cyberattack on forecasting software supplier Blue Yonder. 

So while Baitiéh can still only dream of the double-digit growth enjoyed by some of its retail rivals, it does appear that Morrisons might be getting its mojo back after spending the past couple of years out in the cold.

Reviving Morrisons DNA

The Bradford grocer said it had “satisfied customers” with a four-pronged approach Baitiéh somewhat oxymoronically described as its “value triangle”. This, he said, meant Morrisons was focused on providing “better prices, better adapted prices, better loyalty” as well as more relevant promotions. He claimed these were all underpinned by improvements in availability and in-store experience through investments in AI.

So, while Morrisons has certainly improved its price position, it’s not all been about straight-up value. Baitiéh wants to double down on Morrisons’ “uniqueness” in 2026, particularly in its fresh offer, where its vertical integration gives it an advantage, to increase basket spend and ultimately grow market share.

This has seen a major programme to revive its Market Street proposition, which Baitiéh said was Morrisons’ “DNA”, making it more competitive and modern. Loss-leading counters have been stripped out of some stores and replaced with more self-serve options, while the range available has also been refreshed.

Cutting costs and adding value

Leaning into Morrisons’ USP, at a time when rivals like Tesco and Sainsbury’s are stripping out anything but the most basic of bits of store experience makes sense. However, it’s a fine balance to walk, as it commits Morrisons to much more labour-intensive and costly store features at a time when it’s trying its best to cut costs.

Inconsistent standards remain one of Morrisons’ core issues. One doesn’t have to look too far in the feeds of grocery LinkedIn or Twitter to find pictures of half-empty counters, and depressing gaps on shelves. “Tell me this isn’t the future of Morrisons?” bemoaned one one poster on Linkedin yesterday, alongside two pictures of a new empty deli counter.

Morrisons says that switching up replenishment models from night to day has helped it reduce its staffing premium, while the rollout of ESLs throughout 2026 will remove unnecessary labour from stores.

CFO Jo Goff ruled out further job cuts, but provided less detail on how many hours the changes would actually free up.

So yes. There are glimmers of the Morrisons mojo of old, and Baitiéh and his team should be happy with their progress so far. But there’s still more work to do.

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