Morrisons has moved back into the black - with pre-tax profits for the 25 weeks to July 23 reaching £134.2 million.
Life-for-like sales were up 4.6 per cent over the same period, and customer numbers rose 5.3 per cent, according to the latest Morrison report.
The announcement comes six months after the supermarket group posted its first annual loss in its 106-year history.
The Bradford-based retailer said it was now seeing the benefits of its £3 billion Safeway acquisition in 2004.
But turnover was flat at £5.85 billion this period, a “satisfactory” performance given that 66 stores closed over this period, according to Morrisons.
Chairman Sir Ken Morrison said sales at its 373 stores “stronger than anticipated” and the integration of Safeway was ahead of schedule.
He said: “We have more customers now than ever before in our history. Our business sis growing again, and we are well on track with our targeted profit improvements.”
Morrisons said its three-year Optimisation Plan was now on track to save £50m by cutting back on six million labour hours, and a further £30m should be saved by cutting back on duplicate facilities and improving efficiency.
