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.
Share this..
Related stories
The Bank of England given permission for quantitative easing
The term "quantitative easing" is something which will become more and more popular over the coming months as the UK government has effectively given the Bank of England permission to print new money. The bank is currently looking to buy up to £50 billion of private sector assets which will include a mixture of corporate bonds and commercial paper. Initially the financing for the operation will c...
Read MorePrivate school fees take a heavy toll on the middle classes
While private schools are not necessarily the exclusive domain of the middle class there is certainly more interest from this more affluent area of society. However, it would appear that over the last few months more and more middle class families are struggling to cover their extensive overheads amid rumours that some have stooped to selling or pawning their jewellery while others have sold cars...
Read MoreUK government rejects calls for council tax band adjustments
Eric Pickles, the local government secretary, has confirmed that the UK government has no plans to change council tax bands in the UK which where last set in 1991 and reviewed in 1993. If a reassessment of the council tax bands was to take place it is almost inevitable that a significant number of families would see themselves pushed into the higher tax band thereby taking more money away from the...
Read MoreSetanta bites the dust
Despite days of renewed hopes and talks with an American investor, satellite TV channel Setanta has today succumbed to administration. The company was forced out of business due to lower than expected subscriber numbers, alleged outstanding tax payments in the tens of millions and the fact that the company missed stage payments to the Scottish Premier league and the English Premier league. After f...
Read MoreWhy has the Bank of England increased the quantitative easing fund?
While today's announcement of a £50 billion increase in the quantitative easing fund was released with an air of confidence, concerns are growing as to why the Bank of England has chosen this moment to increase the funds in question. There is a suspicion that even though it's still fairly early days for the quantitative easing policy to kick in, the impact of the significant wall of cash used alr...
Read More