The boss of Wm Morrison has said that it will take “learnings” from a disappointing Christmas performance after a decision to scrap Black Friday-themed promotions hurt its sales. The Bradford-based chain, which is the first of the big grocers to report how it fared over the festive period, announced a 1.7 per cent drop in like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT in the 22 weeks to January 5, which include the third quarter. The decline was slightly better than the 2.2 per cent that had been feared by analysts. During the third quarter to November 3, like-for-like sales were down by 1.2 per cent, with analysts at Bernstein suggesting that this meant sales over Christmas had fallen by 2.6 per cent. Despite the slide, shares

Source: The Times January 07, 2020 09:09 UTC