Morrisons sales finally grow amid ‘zig-zag’ turnaround

Morrisons revealed that it managed to boost sales in a quarter for the first time in four years, as the supermarket chain started welcoming long-lost customers back into its stores.

Sales in the three months to the end of January rose 0.2%, although chief executive David Potts tempered expectations by telling investors there was still more to do.

Full-year sales dropped by 4.1% to £16.1 billion — sales at stores open longer than a year were down 2% — and pre-tax profits hit £217 million after a massive £792 million loss a year earlier.

Potts said: “It’s a bit of a mug’s game for a CEO to forecast sales growth because it’s very competitive.

“Because we are in a turnaround and I’ve always said it’s not going to be a straight line, it will zig-zag around.”

Underlying profits — which exclude one-off payments — fell from £345 million to £242 million, leading to the dividend being cut from 13.65p to just 5p. The shares fell nearly 1% to 200p.

Potts added that making stores easier to shop at, and lower prices, were winning customers over after many started using discount rivals Aldi and Lidl.

Morrisons also revealed for the first time that it took in £403 million in commercial income, where suppliers pay for advertising and marketing or give rebates for sales targets being hit.