Morrisons has reported another quarter of rising sales as it continues to limit the impact of soaring Brexit-related food costs for shoppers.
For its third quarter period ending October 29, the Big 4 grocer recorded like-for-like sales growth of 2.5 per cent, the eighth quarter in a row of growth.
Meanwhile, total sales went up 2.3 per cent during the 13-week period.
Of its comparable sales growth in the quarter, 2.1 per cent came from retail and 0.4 per cent from wholesale.
The supermarket giant said its “Price Crunch” and “Way Down” campaigns attracted more customers and kept prices lower for longer as competing grocery chains, and retailers in general, face rising import costs as a result of the pound’s collapse after last year’s EU referendum.
In addition, it benefited from the continuing trend of customers switching to own-brand products to save costs.
“We again worked hard during the quarter to limit the impact of lower sterling on imported food prices,” Morrisons said in a statement.
Chief executive David Potts, who is overseeing a turnaround of the business, added: “We are pleased with a further step up in our competitiveness and another period of positive like for like sales growth.
“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.
“As we work towards becoming a broader, stronger business, a new Morrisons is taking shape, built by our colleagues on firm balance sheet foundations.”
Part of Potts’ turnaround strategy is Morrisons’ relaunch of the Safeway brand after striking a deal with McColl’s to supply the convenience store chain with groceries.
The partnership will see the supermarket supply Safeway and branded products to 1300 convenience shops and 350 newsagents starting from January.
The move is expected to help Morrisons secure wholesale sales of £700 million by the end of next year, with the amount rising to £1 billion.
