UK supermarket group Morrisons’ underlying sales growth slowed in its third quarter, which it said reflected a “noticeably softer” market.
The UK’s fifth largest grocer said its like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.9% in the 13 weeks to 28 July.
Like-for-like sales were previously up 4.1% in its second quarter.
Former Carrefour France boss Rami Baitieh joined the company – which has been owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice since 2021 – as chief executive in November.
Baitieh said a focus on improving product availability and its loyalty card scheme had driven a quarter of “good headway.”
He said, “Like-for-like sales remained positive, the switching data improved year-on-year and although the market was noticeably softer in Q3, our relative position improved and our market share stabilised.”
Kantar recently reported that customers for the retailer had increased spend per visit following additional More Card offers, which tracked with a June report that Baitieh’s new strategy to improve price competitiveness and to develop a loyalty programme was paying off.
However, the latest monthly industry data has shown that Morrisons is still underperforming the sales growth of market leader Tesco and number two retailer Sainsburys.
Morrisons’ market share is slightly down on the year at 8.5%.
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