Waitrose appears to be reaping the rewards of its acquisition of 19 stores from Morrisons.
The supermarket, which reports its figures in full next month, said sales in the 12 months to January 29 were up by 12% on the same period last year.
Total sales in its first week of trading this financial year were up 19.3% on last year in the seven days to Feb 5. Buying director Angela Megson said this was due to “strong momentum” in grocery and fruit and vegetables and new lines in ready meals. The figures were also boosted by sales of bottled water, chilled juice, frozen fish, the re-launched perfectly balanced range and Valentine’s and Easter confectionery, Megson added.
Waitrose bought 14 of the divested Safeway
stores in March last year, as well as four other Safeway sites and a Morrisons outlet, adding more than half a million sq ft of selling space.
Long-term sales have been particularly strong in grocery and fresh fruit and veg. A breakdown of figures for the second half of Waitrose’s financial year shows grocery sales up 21.2% and fruit, vegetables and horticulture up 17.6%. Meat, poultry, eggs and fish also did well, increasing by 17.4%,

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