Supermarket chain Morrisons has said that during the pandemic there has been a renaissance of the supermarket in Britain and customers are enjoying cooking at home more.
Customers have also embraced shopping online, and both Morrisons.com and Morrisons on Amazon are now complementing our supermarkets well. Online sales during the first continued to be very strong, with year-on-year growth of 113%.
Morrisons said like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.7% in the 14 weeks to May 9, its fiscal first quarter – ahead of analysts’ average forecast of up 1.6% but down from growth of 9.0% in the previous quarter.
Comparing the period with 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic started to disrupt trading last year, like-for-like sales rose 8.7%.
The group maintained its forecast for 2021/22 profit before tax and exceptionals including business rates paid to be higher than the 431 million pounds profit achieved in 2020/21, excluding the waived rates relief. It also said it would reduce debt.
David Potts, Chief Executive, said:
“We’ve had an encouraging start to the year, with positive like-for-like sales and
some good momentum across Morrisons both on a one and two-year view. We said
back in March that we expected to grow profits and reduce debt in the current year
and I’m pleased to be both reiterating that guidance today and looking forward to a
year of meaningful profit growth in 2022/23.”
“The pandemic is not yet over, but it is in retreat across Britain and there is much to
be positive about as something approaching normal life begins to take shape. Our
forecourts are getting busier, we are seeing encouraging recent signs of a strong
rebound of food-to-go, take-away counters and salad bars, and our popular cafés will
soon fully reopen. The nation has a summer of socialising and sport to look forward
to and we’ll all be able to rediscover the joys of meeting up and eating well together.
Whichever way consumers choose to enjoy their renewed freedom, we will be there
for them.”
“We’re looking to the future with confidence as we see the growing warmth and
affection for Morrisons from our customers flow into every area of the business. Our
increasingly special butchers, bakers, fishmongers and other food makers are
helping to brighten shopping trips, and the growing reach of our online businesses is
attracting new customers and broadening the appeal of new Morrisons.
