Sales growth at Morrisons slowed during the festive season in a "challenging period for the consumer", the supermarket chain has announced.
The retailer's like-for-like growth for the six weeks to 1 January was 0.7 per cent, down from 2.4 per cent on the third financial quarter as a whole.
Its seasonal marketing strategy pulled in an extra 800,000 customers per week but total sales climbed less than expected at 2.9 per cent excluding fuel compared with 4.6 per cent in the previous period.
But the UK's fourth-biggest supermarket's predictions for the year are unchanged.
"We had anticipated that 2011 would be challenging for the consumer and that we would be operating in a low growth sales environment," the Group has said in a statement.
"We planned our business on that basis and accordingly, the Board’s expectations for the full year remain in line with its original assumptions.
"The Group’s financial position remains strong and we expect full year net debt to be in the range of £1.4bn - £1.5bn."
Morrisons' CEO Dalton Philips has said the results were good despite a harsh climate trading climate.
“I am pleased that in a difficult trading environment we have continued to grow our businessand have delivered another good performance in a very tough market," Philips has said.
The UK's biggest retailer, Tesco, unveils Christmas sales figures on Thursday, while Sainsbury's reports on Wednesday.
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