British supermarket group Morrisons has today reported a 6.5% rise in core earnings for its 2022/23 year, helped by an improving trend in underlying sales which it said reflected sharper prices and the appeal of a new loyalty scheme.
Morrisons has been owned since 2021 by US private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
It said that core earnings, or underlying EBITDA, amounted to £970m in the year to October 29 2023, on revenue, excluding fuel, up 2.7% to £14.9 billion.
The group, led since November by former Carrefour France boss Rami Baitiéh, said fourth quarter like-for-like sales, ex fuel, were up 3.3%, a sixth quarter of improvement in a row.
Morrisons is, however, losing UK grocery market share, ending 2023 with 8.8%, down 30 basis points on the year, according to researcher Kantar.
Kantar's data has shown Morrisons underperforming rivals, including market leader Tesco, the second biggest supermarket group Sainsbury's and the German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl.
In 2022, Morrisons was overtaken as Britain's fourth-largest supermarket by market share by Aldi.
Morrisons yesterday announced a deal to sell its petrol forecourts portfolio to Motor Fuel Group, which is also majority-owned by CD&R.
Proceeds of about £2 billion will be used to pay down debt and invest in the business.
