Morrisons has released its first-quarter trading update, revealing a resilient performance despite a challenging economic climate and recent operational disruptions. The supermarket chain reported a 2.1% increase in like-for-like (LFL) sales and a 2.4% rise in total sales, reaching £4.0bn for the 13 weeks ending Jan 26, 2025.
The strong sales figures come amidst a period of significant strategic change, with the retailer announcing a comprehensive operational optimisation program, impacting key areas such as Cafés, convenience stores, Market Kitchens, and Florists.
The company achieved an additional £56m in cost savings during the quarter, bringing the total to £668m. This success has prompted Morrisons to raise its medium-term cost-saving target from £700m to £1bn.
Morrisons has strengthened its management team with several key appointments, including Andrew Staniland as Group Trading Director, Food; Matt Heslop as Director of Convenience and Wholesale; and Matt McLellan as Group Data and Media Director.
Chief Executive Rami Baitiéh acknowledged the challenges posed by a recent cyber attack on Blue Yonder, which disrupted stock accuracy, availability, waste management, and forecasting. Despite these hurdles, the company delivered positive sales growth.
“Despite a challenging environment, Morrisons has made exceptional progress in a very short time,” stated Baitiéh. “The cyber attack on Blue Yonder caused a far reaching period of disruption across the businesses, affecting our stock accuracy, availability, waste and forecasting. Despite this I am very pleased that we are reporting an increase in like-for-like sales in the quarter of +2.1%.”
