Bradford supermarket giant Morrisons has announced a sharp increase in sales ahead of showdown talks with the Competition Commission.

The company said yesterday that total sales in the first 14 weeks of the financial period were up 14.2 per cent on the same period last year. Like for like sales, which disregard stores opened in the past 12 months, were also up by 8.4 per cent in the same period.

When fuel sales were excluded, the increases were 12.5 per cent in total and 6.9 per cent like for like.

Morrisons financial director Martin Ackroyd said the results were "very pleasing" and he added: "They are probably industry leading figures. We are increasing both our number of customers and also encouraging them to spend a little bit more."

Company officials will meet the Competition Commission on Tuesday in the latest round of talks over the bidding war for rival Safeway.

The commission is expected to highlight what it sees as the potential pros and cons of Morrisons' bid. Further talks will then be held later in the year.