Morrisons has swung back into the black with a pre-tax profit of £2.1bn for the year to 27 October 2024, according to new accounts filed with Companies House.

The turnaround marks its first annual profit for the supermarket chain since being taken over by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in 2021.

However, it understood this figure is primarily due to sale of its petrol forecourts for £2.5bn to Motor Fuel Group (MFG) which included 337 petrol forecourts and more than 400 associated sites.

Meanwhile, the Bradford-based supermarket also cut more than 3,600 jobs over the same period, reducing its total workforce from 104,819 to 101,144. Store staff were cut by nearly 2,800, while head office, manufacturing, and distribution roles also fell.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

The job reductions follow a larger cut of over 8,800 roles the previous year. The chain also closed over 50 of its cafés earlier in 2024, putting a further 365 jobs at risk.

Morrisons’ total revenue for the year declined from £18.3bn to £17bn. Despite this, the business reported improved trading in its current financial year, with second-quarter like-for-like sales up 3.9% and total sales rising 4.2% to £3.9bn.

Chief executive Rami Baitiéh said in June: “Value remains at the forefront of customers’ minds… we’ve worked hard on helping customers through these challenges with a rigorous focus on price, promotions and meaningful rewards for loyalty.”

The news follows wider cost-cutting moves across the grocery sector. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Aldi have all announced job losses in the past year, with Sainsbury’s previously revealing it was set to axe 3,000 roles and Aldi confirming cuts of up to 350 at its head office.