'Stronger momentum': Morrisons hails impact of World Cup and hot weather on sales as cost savings approach £1bn
Morrisons is approaching almost £1bn in cost reductions over the last three years as the Yorkshire supermarket chain reported “stronger sales momentum” driven by the World Cup and this summer’s hot weather.
The Bradford-headquartered company has published a trading update for the 13 weeks to July 26 in which a recorded a 3.2 per cent increase in like-for-like sales – representing the 15th consecutive quarter of growth.
It said £53m of cost savings were delivered in the period, taking the overall total to £995m since the start of the ongoing programme.
Last month, company annual accounts for the year to October 26, 2025 revealed Morrisons, which has been owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice since 2021, had reduced its workforce by almost 5,000 people to a then total of 96,232.
As of today, the company now employs around 95,000 people.
CEO Rami Baitiéh said of the latest results: “Trading conditions in Q3 remained highly competitive but the period also benefited from the hot weather and the World Cup. We traded strongly, growing ahead of the market and delivering a robust result, with an acceleration of like-for-like sales growth to 3.2 per cent.
"This is our strongest quarter since Q2 2025, and our fifteenth consecutive quarter of like-for-like growth.
“Our stronger sales momentum reflected a broad-based improvement across the business - with our Supermarkets, Online, Convenience, Pharmacy and Myton manufacturing businesses all reporting good growth, underlining our progress with our plans to renew and modernise Morrisons.
“Key to this performance is our continued commitment to keeping prices low. The recent launch of our Unbeatables price promise, which guarantees customers won’t find better value on hundreds of essential products at named major supermarkets, has already had a positive impact.
“We are pleased with our Q3 performance - our stronger like-for-like sales, the combination of lower prices and volume growth, and our market share improvement, are all clear evidence that our strategy is delivering and that we remain on track with our plans.
“We have made a good start to Q4 and are well-prepared for Halloween and the final weeks of the financial year, as we continue to drive further improvements to our offer while keeping prices low for customers.
“This strong result was built on the hard work of colleagues across the group and I want to thank them all for their continued commitment.”
Jo Goff, Chief Financial Officer, said: “Cumulative cost savings now approaching £1 billion helped us offset extensive external cost headwinds while also focussing on what is most important; investment in our colleagues and in stronger value for customers.
“In addition, we have proactively reduced debt by 46% since 2022 and have no near term maturities. Our well-invested supermarket estate remains overwhelmingly freehold, and we have a strong balance sheet, providing solid foundations for further progress.”