Morrisons CEO David Potts (Mikael Black/PA)
(Picture: PA Media)Morrisons has become the latest retailer to announce a drop in sales due to the ongoing cost of living crisis gripping The UK.
The UK’s fourth largest supermarket by market share released an update on its second quarter of trading that indicated like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks ending 1 May dropped 6.4% in comparison to the same period the previous year due to “ongoing inflationary pressure and an increasingly subdued consumer sentiment”.
However, Morrisons said that sales improved towards the end of the quarter, helped by a strong performance over Mother’s Day and the Easter celebrations.
The company. that New York-based private equity giant Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) bought out last year, said that its revenue was boosted 2.6% over the quarter to £4.59 billion primarily due to the spiking of fuel sales which leaped 54%.
David Potts, CEO of Morrisons, said: “In a very fragile and difficult consumer environment, Morrisons has continued to deliver a resilient performance.
“This quarter traded over a period of significant Covid restrictions last year when travel and hospitality were both severely limited. As those two activities returned to more normal patterns this year, we saw very strong growth in fuel sales but a step back in grocery.
“I want to thank Morrisons colleagues for their dedication and hard work in helping the business rise once again to meet the new challenges of the cost of living crisis.”
In April, Morrisons launched one of its biggest ever price cut campaigns, involving over 500 products and cutting the price of over a quarter of entry level products to help customers with the impact of significantly increased household and living costs.
On 9 May, Morrisons acquired the entire McColl’s convenience store business from the administrators, comprising 1,160 stores, including 270 Morrisons Daily branded outlets.
