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Morrisons continues to face challenges as sales slump 1.1% in Q1

Published:  07 May, 2015

Morrisons reported like-for-like sales down 2.9% in the first quarter of the financial year today with total sales (excluding fuel) down 1.1%.

Morrisons reported like-for-like sales down 2.9% in the first quarter of the financial year today with total sales (excluding fuel)  down 1.1%.

The figures represent the 13 weeks ending on 3 May 2015.

In an attempt to lower costs Potts has already announced stores closures, announcing that 720 jobs would be eliminated for the company's head quarter office earlier this month.

David Potts, the newly appointed chief executive officer, said: "As previously announced we closed more stores than we opened during the period, which led to a net reduction in selling space of over 50,000 square feet. In addition, we are taking steps to simplify our head office, and anticipate incurring associated one-off costs of £30m-£40m during 2015/16."

Since the beginning of 2015 the company has focused to improving its customer experience. Potts further committed to that goal and said: "Our priorities are to improve the customers' shopping trip and make our core supermarkets strong again.  We are listening hard to customers and colleagues and, wherever possible, we are responding quickly."

Potts who has been the head of the company for less than two months said that he is encouraged by the "support of colleagues, and by the genuine warmth and affection for Morrisons shared by both colleagues and customers."

He said: "My initial impressions from my first seven weeks are of a business eager to listen to customers and improve. This is a business with many attributes, some unique. Our task is to use those advantages to improve the shopping trip for customers and create value."

Clive Black, a director and the head of research at Shore Capital, said: "It is clearly still very early days in Mr Potts' tenure but we sense he is bringing a deep rooted and fundamental change to Morrison's that is for the better. We make this assertion not because Dalton Philips was ineffectual but because in this market the business needs an experienced leader. In this respect we demonstrably believe that Mr Potts has hit the ground running."

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