Morrisons reports leap in sales
Published: Thursday, 4 December 2008, 9:01AM
Supermarket Morrisons has reported an 8.1 per cent leap in its third-quarter sales.
The group said its efforts to keep shopping bills and fuel costs down had been "extremely popular", with more than 700,000 new shoppers visiting its stores each week.
Morrisons added it had agreed to buy 38 former Somerfield and Co-operative Food stores for £223.1 million.
Marc Bolland, chief executive, said: "In this challenging economic environment more customers than ever before are choosing Morrisons.
"Our industry-leading deals and unique fresh food offer have attracted over seven hundred thousand new customers to our stores."
Like-for-like sales including fuel for the 13-week period to November 2 rose 13.3 per cent, according to Morrisons.
The sales hike builds on a 7.6 per cent rise seen in the first half of its year as cash-strapped shoppers search around for the best deals.
It also far outstrips sales figures reported by Tesco earlier this week, when the sector leader reported a 2 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in its worst performance since the last recession.
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