Morrisons is "working hard" to limit rising food costs

Morrisons has reported another quarter of rising sales as the supermarket said it '‹i'‹s working hard to limit the impact of '‹rising food costs for shoppers.

The Bradford-based firm recorded like-for-like sales growth of 2.5 per cent in the 13 weeks to October 29, its eighth consecutive quarter of positive sales growth.

Analysts welcomed the news.

Clive Black, head of research at Shore Capital, said: "In a clearly competitive UK grocery market characterised by positive mix and modest inflation, albeit flatter volumes, we see Morrisons now delivering sustained year-on-year growth-on-growth as a real achievement of CEO, David Potts and his team.

"The business is generating positive leverage but also investing to sustain top line progress, to us relative competitiveness may have improved in the quarter, supporting ongoing trading margins and building free cash generation. The group’s balance sheet is amongst the strongest in the sector."

Morrisons said that more customers walked through its doors to take advantage of its 'Price Crunch' and 'Way Down' campaigns as grocery chains battle rising import costs following the pound's collapse after last year's referendum.

"We again worked hard during the quarter to limit the impact of lower sterling on imported food prices," Morrisons said.

Mr Potts said: "We are pleased with a further step up in our competitiveness and another period of positive like for like sales growth.