Morrisons’ turnaround strategy “is delivering” results, CEO Rami Baitiéh has claimed, after the supermarket posted its 15th consecutive quarter of growth.
Like-for-like sales grew 3.2% during the 13 weeks to 26 July, with sales reaching £4.1bn. The “robust” performance added to 2.2% growth the previous quarter.
Morrisons claimed both sales and volumes grew ahead of the market. However, it did not disclose volume figures. Online sales hit “double-digit” growth following the expansion of its immediacy channels and its own Morrisons Now on-demand service.
It was another quarter defined by job cuts as Morrisons continued with its restructuring plan, with a more than 400 roles combined cut from Morrisons Hilmore House HQ in April, and from its stores following the closure of 100 Morrisons Daily sites in May.
Together with other measures, Morrisons had cut a further £53m in costs, taking its total since the start of the year to £995m, just shy of Baitiéh’s £1bn target. It had helped offset the “cost headwinds” as a result of energy prices and supply chain pressures caused by the Iran war and heatwaves, it said.
“Trading conditions in Q3 remained highly competitive but the period also benefited from the hot weather and the World Cup,” Baitiéh said.
“We traded strongly, growing ahead of the market and delivering a robust result, with an acceleration of like-for-like sales growth to 3.2%. This is our strongest quarter since Q2 2025, and our 15th consecutive quarter of like-for-like growth.
“Our stronger sales momentum reflected a broad-based improvement across the business – with our supermarkets, online, convenience, pharmacy and Myton manufacturing businesses all reporting good growth, underlining our progress with our plans to renew and modernise Morrisons,” Baitiéh said.
The figures match Morrisons improved performance in the Worldpanel market share index over the past few months, a run that was continued in the latest publication this week, which showed sales grew 2.8% in the 12 weeks to 6 September.
Unpublished Worldpanel figures seen by The Grocer showed Morrisons’ volumes grew 3% in August.
Hoping to build on that momentum, Morrisons pledged to match all of its big four and discounter rivals on 500 lines, as part of a major new price match commitment launched in August. Unbeatable Prices replaced its existing Aldi Lidl price match.
“Key to this performance is our continued commitment to keeping prices low,” Baitiéh added. “The recent launch of our Unbeatable price promise, which guarantees customers won’t find better value on hundreds of essential products at named major supermarkets, has already had a positive impact.
“We are pleased with our Q3 performance – our stronger like-for-like sales, the combination of lower prices and volume growth, and our market share improvement, are all clear evidence that our strategy is delivering and that we remain on track with our plans.”
Morrisons had made a “good start” to the final quarter of the financial year ahead of Halloween, and would look to “drive further improvements” to its performance, Baitiéh said.
“This strong result was built on the hard work of colleagues across the group and I want to thank them all for their continued commitment.”
It comes as recent accounts showed that Morrisons’ losses surged to nearly £1bn last year, with its total debt at £3.2bn.
No comments yet