Morrisons reports a slowdown in sales amid high food inflation

Morrisons chief executive Rami Baitieh has said that customers are “feeling the squeeze” as food prices keep rising.

Baitieh said they have seen sales fall in the latest quarter as inflation has “increased further” the past two months due to “challenging” conditions.

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.”

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 £2.7 billion of debt since the acquisition of the business by CD&R (Clayton Dubilier & Rice), bringing the current debt figure down by around 43% from £6.2 billion to £3.5 billion.”