Morrisons Q3 sales jump 2.1% to £3.9bn
It comes as the retailer signed a £370m deal with the aim of using its property portfolio to shrink its debt pile
Morrisons has announced that its total sales excluding fuel rose 2.1% to £3.9bn for the three months ended 28 July 2024.
Alongside this, the company’s like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT rose 2.9% primarily driven by volume.
Morrisons also added a further 50 products to its Aldi and Lidl Price Match bringing the total to almost 300.
During the period it also raised staff pay to £12 an hour from October 2024 leading to an annualised investment in pay of £151m.
It comes as the retailer signed a £370m deal with the aim of using its property portfolio to shrink its debt pile.
The chain has agreed the ground rent transaction with real estate investor Song Capital, which will pay £370m for the right to receive an income stream from 75 of the group’s supermarkets for the next 45 years.
Morrisons will reportedly keep ownership of the stores’ freehold following the deal.
Rami Baitiéh, CEO, said: “Our focus on listening to customers, better availability and improving the Morrisons More Card has driven another quarter of good headway across the board. Like-for-like sales remained positive, the switching data improved year-on-year and although the market was noticeably softer in Q3, our relative position improved and our market share stabilised.
“As inflation reduces we are seeing customers increasingly valuing Britishness, provenance, quality and the love of great value fresh food, all of which is in Morrisons heartland. Our price competitiveness improved further in the quarter as our Aldi and Lidl price match, More Card offers and everyday low prices combined to give customers increasing confidence in Morrisons great value.”
Jo Goff, CFO, added: “Every part of Morrisons – supermarkets, online, convenience, wholesale and Myton Food Group – showed good growth in the quarter, representing a robust performance across a diversified business.
“Today we have also announced a ground debt transaction with net proceeds of £331m. The properties will remain under Morrisons control and our retail estate remains over 80% freehold. This transaction follows the deleveraging from the disposal of our forecourt business at the start of quarter, and if the proceeds from this transaction were also used to reduce debt, on a pro-forma basis, our debt would be £3.6 billion, down 41% from its peak.”
