Following today’s release of Morrisons’ FY results for the 52 weeks ending 26 October 2025 and Christmas trading update for the six weeks to 4 January 2026; Eleanor Simpson-Gould, senior retail analyst at GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform, offers her view: “Morrisons has had a strong start to its financial year, placing it marginally ahead of Sainsbury’s. Group l-f-l sales rose 3.4% for the six weeks to 4 January 2026, which compares with 3.3% total retail growth reported by Sainsbury’s for the six weeks to 3 January 2026.
“Within food & grocery, Morrisons’ push to reassert its ‘Market Street’ brand is helping the grocer compete more effectively in the premium market, benefitting from the same consumer appetite for higher-quality own label that has supported recent grocery success at Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Morrisons reported 17.4% growth in its premium ‘The Best’ range over Christmas. Consumers will have been attracted by Morrisons’ broader premium range after the grocer introduced the complementary ‘The Best Signature Collection’ late last year. Morrisons also reviewed its fresh range in the second half of last year. These initiatives together have combined value reassurance with clearer and more compelling reasons for shoppers to trade up. Encouragingly, Morrisons secured growth in non-food, with general merchandise up 10.0% and Nutmeg clothing rising 4.7% over Christmas, demonstrating that it can generate incremental spending beyond core food missions.
“Morrisons’ full-year results were also strong overall, with total revenue rising 3.2% to £15.8bn and group like-for-like (l-f-l) sales rising 2.8%. However, sales were not consistent throughout the year. Morrisons saw strong demand in Q2 where l-f-l growth was 4.2%, but faced a tougher trading environment towards the end of its financial year (l-f-l sales slowed to 2.4%), resulting in sharper price and promotional investment. Morrisons maintained underlying EBITDA for the full year at £835m, despite cost pressures, indicating the grocer has held tight operational control as it continued to invest in price, store efficiencies, promotions and loyalty to stay competitive.
“These investments in customer engagement have paid off, with Morrisons’ ‘More Card’ active users up 11% to a record 8 million over the year, giving the grocer a larger base to target with more tailored value and mission-based incentives. Morrisons must now use this scale to convert Christmas-driven spikes into sustained growth, using ‘More Card’ data to build repeat purchases in fresh food and attach Nutmeg and general merchandise offers more consistently to the weekly shop.”
