Value range boosts Morrisons sales

The group said its efforts to keep shopping bills and fuel costs down had been "extremely popular", with more than 700,000 new shoppers visiting its stores each week.

Morrisons added it had agreed to buy 38 former Somerfield and Co-operative Food stores for £223.1 million.

Like-for-like sales including fuel for the 13-week period to November 2 rose 13.3%, according to Morrisons.

The sales hike builds on a 7.6% rise seen in the first half of its year as cash-strapped shoppers search around for the best deals.

It also far outstrips sales figures reported by Tesco earlier this week, when the sector leader reported a 2% increase in like-for-like sales in its worst performance since the last recession.

Marc Bolland, chief executive, said: "In this challenging economic environment more customers than ever before are choosing Morrisons.

"Our industry-leading deals and unique fresh food offer have attracted over 700,000 new customers to our stores."

Morrisons - Britain's fourth biggest supermarket chain - described the Co-op and Somerfield stores acquisition as its first big deal since the Safeway takeover in 2004.

It will add the shops to its existing portfolio of 150 smaller stores, with the outlets boosting its total space by just under 5%.