Morrisons' recovery appears to be gathering pace, as the Bradford-based chain this morning announced a 6.6 per cent rise, excluding fuel, in first-half like-for-like sales.
Morrisons this morning released a sales update in advance of its interim results, which will be announced on September 21.
The under-fire chain beat forecasts with a 6.6 per cent rise in like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, in the 25 weeks to July 23 and reported a acceleration of the upward trend (+7.5 per cent ex-fuel) in the nine weeks since its agm.
Morrisons surprised the City with its performance - six analysts polled by news agency Reuters had previously forecast rises of between 3.9 per cent and 4.2 per cent.
Like-for-like sales in core Morrisons continue to improve, as they have in the converted stores, including those that are now in their second year of conversion. Sales generated through new floorspace contributed an additional 1.9 per cent.
Sir Ken Morrison, chairman, commented: “The board is pleased with the progress being made towards the delivery of our Optimisation Plan targets; in particular our goal to improve gross margin by 90 basis points over 3 years, which is being delivered ahead of plan.”
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