Morrisons blamed the cost-of-living crisis for a decline in sales, but promised “the market is still growing”, in its latest financial results.

The supermarket’s third-quarter trading update, for 13 weeks ending 21 July 2022, reported group like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, as being down 3.1% on the comparable period a year ago. However, including fuel, like-for-like sales were up 4.3%.

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Chief operating officer David Potts said: “The cost-of-living crisis is starting to change shopping patterns. The speed, scale and severity of cost and energy price increases, exacerbated by the terrible war in Ukraine, had significant impacts through the quarter.”

Morrisons also announced chief operating officer Trevor Strain would be stepping down.

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