Morrisons has revealed a slowdown in sales growth for the latest quarter in the face of “highly competitive” market conditions.
The supermarket group revealed that total sales grew by 1.7% to £4 billion over the 13 weeks to April 26.
It compared with a 2.6% increase in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, like-for-like sales growth slowed to 2.2% from 2.8% in the previous quarter.
Boss Rami Baitieh nevertheless said he was “pleased” by the latest performance and highlighted an “encouraging start” to the third quarter, with hopes that sales will be boosted by the World Cup and Father’s Day.
The company stressed that it made “good progress” in its growth strategy over the quarter, amid a continued focus on value to help bring in shoppers.
However, Morrisons recently saw discount rival Lidl overtake it to become the UK’s fifth largest grocery chain.
Morrisons is now the sixth largest after witnessing a dip in its share of the grocery market in recent years.
Mr Baitieh has helped drive a major turnaround strategy at Morrisons to help boost sales and profitability.
On Wednesday, it reported that underlying earnings rose by 5.7% to £323 million for the first half of its latest financial year.
Morrisons said it secured a further £48 million worth of cost savings over the latest quarter as it moved closer to meeting its £1 billion savings target, as part of its long-term strategy.
Cost reduction efforts also saw the company unveil plans to shut about 100 lossmaking convenience stores last month, as it highlighted that cost pressures were worsened by “Government policy”.
In its fresh update, the retailer said it still opened 30 new Morrisons Daily franchise stores in the quarter and plans to open hundreds more in the years ahead.
Mr Baitieh said: “In a highly competitive market, we’re focusing hard on delivering the best value for customers to give them more reasons to shop at Morrisons.
“While more recent international news creates some grounds for optimism, we continue to monitor the impact of input inflation very closely and we remain committed to doing whatever we can to help keep prices down for customers.”
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