Supermarket Morrisons has said that total sales (excluding fuel) fell 4.2% in the 13 weeks to May 4th, hit by a competitive market. Like-for-like sales were down 7.1% (8.2% including fuel) although the company said that expectations of profits for the full year were unchanged.

In March, Morrisons announced plans to save £1 billion over the coming three years and since then it has been making “significant improvements” to the layout of its stores and announced price cuts on over 1,200 products earlier this month.

Dalton Philips, chief executive, said: "The plans we set out at our results in March are on track. The reaction of our customers to the 1,200 "I'm Cheaper" price cuts we announced last week has been very positive. Although it will take time for their full impact to be felt, we are confident that these meaningful and permanent reductions in our prices will enable our clear points of difference to resonate strongly with consumers."