Morrisons said it had “continued good sales momentum” in its third quarter as CEO Rami Baitiéh said it had focused on listening to customers, better availability and improving Morrisons More Card.

The grocery giant’s like-for-like sales rose 2.9% in the quarter to 28 July, as total sales hit £3.9bn, up by 2.1%, driven primarily by volume.

This is a slight dip from last quarter’s like-for-like sales where the supermarket delivered a 4.1% increase, however, total sales rose from last quarter’s £3.8bn.

This quarter also saw a step up in availability, which improved by 2 percentage points year-on-year aided by AI-powered availability cameras in over 400 stores, and other initiatives such as a further 50 products added to the Aldi and Lidl Price Match.

Alongside availability, Morrisons also expanded its loyalty scheme, with the launch of a new Morrisons More Card rolling programme.

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Baitiéh said: “As inflation reduces we are seeing customers increasingly valuing Britishness, provenance, quality and the love of great value fresh food, all of which is in Morrisons heartland.

“Our price competitiveness improved further in the quarter as our Aldi and Lidl price match, More Card offers and everyday low prices combined to give customers increasing confidence in Morrisons great value.”

Looking ahead, the chief executive added that “loyalty remained a key focus”.

“The current quarter will be a transformational one for the More Card with the introduction of a number of new elements. In early September, we introduced a rolling programme of over 2,000 “More Card Prices” with very significant savings on every offer.

“We are also extending the breadth of the loyalty scheme with the introduction of More Card points on our Amazon channel.  The next phase is to introduce the More Card into our convenience stores, which will start in October,” Baitiéh said.

The supermarket giant’s latest trading update comes amid news that it has struck a £331m property deal with real estate investor Song Capital, which will reduce its debt by more than 40%.

Morrisons chief financial officer Jo Goff said: “The properties will remain under Morrisons control and our retail estate remains over 80% freehold.”

“This transaction follows the deleveraging from the disposal of our forecourt business at the start of quarter, and if the proceeds from this transaction were also used to reduce debt, on a pro-forma basis, our debt would be £3.6bn, down 41% from its peak.”