Morrisons announces best Christmas in the food sector
While Morrisons has often been the butt of many jokes in the food sector with the likes of Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury racing away it would appear this trend has most certainly reversed over recent months. The company announced a like for like sales increase of 8.2% in the six weeks covering the Christmas period which was towards the top end of analysts expectations of between 7% and 8.5%.
Total sales were up 9.4% excluding fuel and the company apparently attracted a further 2.2 million new customers over the festive period. This is a remarkable turnaround for a company which many had written off just last year and with plans to expand the business in 2009 Morrisons looks as though it is well and truly back on track. Whether the company can push further ahead and compete with the likes of Asda and Tesco in the medium to longer term remains to be seen but value customers seem to be flocking to Morrisons 382 stores throughout the UK.
While the company is cautiously optimistic for the future they are not taking for granted the potential for consumers to reduce their spending habits if 2009 is as bad, or worse than, 2008. The picture for 2009 should begin to materialise over the coming months and will test the anti-recession benefits of the food sector.
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