Bradford-based supermarket giant Morrisons said its total revenue rose 3.4% to £4.713 billion in its first quarter — the 13 weeks ending January 29, 2023.

Morrisons said group like-for-like (LFL) sales excluding fuel and VAT were up 0.1% “reflecting steady improvement over the last three trading quarters.”

US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice completed a £7 billion takeover of Morrisons last year.

Morrisons CEO David Potts said:  “We still have plenty of work to do, but momentum in the business is now building with an improving trajectory over the last three quarters and like-for-like sales now in positive territory.

“Our market share has stabilised, our inflation rate is below our peers, and Morrisons traditional competitiveness, colour and dynamism is steadily returning to every part of the business.

“We have targeted £700 million of cost savings over the next three years.

“This saving will help drive the performance of the business by enabling further investment in our loyalty programme, increasing the pace of McColl’s conversions, putting more hours into our stores, as well as mitigating the significant cost headwinds that we face.

“Although this has been another difficult period for consumers with inflation still at very high levels, we have continued with our programme of regular and meaningful price investments, enabled by a strong start to our cost savings programme.

“The cornerstone of the improving picture at Morrisons has been our colleagues.

“Across the whole business, they have continued to help our customers by providing a colourful, vibrant, fresh food focused shopping experience and I want to thank everyone at Morrisons for their continued hard work and positivity.”