Supermarket chain Morrisons says shoppers are "feeling the squeeze" amid rising food prices.
The 海角视频's fifth largest supermarket saw sales growth slow down over the last quarter, with total sales rising 3.5% to £4bn in the 13 weeks to July 27, compared with 4.2% in the previous quarter. Bosses also pointed to a further £63m of cost savings delivered in the period, with an expected £1bn to be saved by the end of its 2026 financial year.
Chief executive Rami Baitieh said inflation has “increased further” over the past two months amid a “challenging” environment for the business. It came after figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the rate of food and drink inflation rose to 5.1% in August, from 4.9% in July.
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Mr Baitieh said: “Consumers are feeling the squeeze and we are continuing to work hard to help our customers make the most of stretched household budgets, staying true to Morrisons values of providing good affordable fresh food for all.
“In the fourth quarter, inflation has increased further and we are adapting and adjusting to make sure we continue to offer the best value, cutting prices for all customers, tailoring promotions and offering More Card customers even better rewards for their loyalty.”
Morrisons recently announced price cuts on about 650 products in a bid to attract shoppers amid the growth of discount rivals, and similar efforts from rivals Tesco and Sainsbury's. The measures follow "significant cost headwinds" linked to the previous autumn budget, increases in Employer National Insurance contributions, increases to the National Minimum Wage and new packaging taxes.
Jo Goff, chief financial officer said: "We delivered a resilient performance in Q3 in tough market conditions and with significant external cost headwinds. We also made further progress with our capital structure, completing a material refinancing which further reduced gross debt, and proactively extended maturities to 2031.
“We have now repaid a total of £2.7bn of debt since the acquisition of the business by CD&R (Clayton Dubilier & Rice), bringing the current debt figure down by around 43% from £6.2bn to £3.5bn."