MORRISONS has revealed a slump in earnings and like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, as the supermarket giant faces "very subdued" consumer sentiment.

The Bradford-based group, which was bought by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for £7 billion last year, has revealed it posted adjusted earnings of £177 million over the 13 weeks to July 31, compared with £356m over the same period last year.

Morrisons also said that group like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, fell by 3.1 per cent over the third quarter.

Sales for the company's financial year so far are down 4.9 per cent year-on-year.

David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said: "It's clear that the cost-of-living crisis is starting to change customer shopping patterns in many ways.

"The speed, scale and severity of cost and energy price increases, exacerbated by the terrible war in Ukraine, had significant impacts through the quarter, but the market is still growing and the energy price guarantee will ease pressure on consumers.

"We are doing everything we can to keep prices down for customers.

“Last quarter we introduced one of our biggest ever price cut campaigns and in Q3 we introduced our popular Summer Collector scheme.

“Earlier this week we announced another significant price cut programme across 150 of our most popular products and tomorrow we are launching a timely fuel promotion - with 5p a litre off with a £40 spend in-store - to help customers with the high cost of motoring.”

Mr Potts added the supermarket chain is investing strongly in its My Morrisons card.

He said: “Importantly, we are adjusting and adapting, with ongoing investment in our customer proposition including exciting plans for McColl’s which we’re confident will continue to grow our convenience offering and footprint.

“We are also improving our digital capabilities and investing strongly in our My Morrisons card and app, helping us to incentivise and reward our customers in a more personalised and targeted way.

"I want to thank all Morrisons colleagues for their continued hard work and dedication to helping our customers through an exceptionally difficult period for UK consumers."

The results come a day after Morrisons’ chief operating officer is to step down, the supermarket announced.

Trevor Strain joined the Bradford-based chain in 2009 as Commercial and Operations Finance Director, and in 2013 joined the Board as Chief Financial Officer. In 2019 he was appointed Chief Operating Officer.

He added it was a difficult decision for him to leave the supermarket firm.

 

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