Morrisons bucks trend with strong results

Including fuel, the figure for the six weeks to 6 January 2008, was 11.3%.

Total sales increased by 11.6%, or 13.6% including fuel.
The figures represent the best performance of any of the Big Four supermarkets over the Christmas period. Last week, Tesco disappointed City analysts with like-for-like growth of 3.1%.

Morrisons said the results were boosted by the introduction of a new discount scheme for staff in November, which contributed about 1.5% to the ex-fuel sales figures.

The supermarket chain put the strong sales growth down to its new advertising campaign, which focused on fresh food, keener prices and "great promotional deals in the run-up to Christmas".

It added: "These initiatives brought more customers into our stores, with over four million extra customer visits over the six-week Christmas period. We had excellent availability throughout and saw record levels of trade across the 375 stores in our estate."

Morrisons chief executive Marc Bolland said: "We welcomed significantly more customers to our stores, and they were well served with attractive offers and great fresh food.

"These strong results are further evidence that our rigorous focus on freshness, service and value is striking a chord with shoppers."

The company added that it expected full-year results to be at the top end of its expectations.

But it warned: "We expect the market to remain competitive and we are cautious on the outlook for consumer spending. However, we believe that our strong value credentials will serve us well in these conditions."