Morrisons has recorded its strongest fourth quarter sales since the start of 2021, while full-year profits jumped as CEO Rami Baitiéh’s turnaround picks up speed.

For the 13 weeks ending 27 October 2024, the supermarket giant’s like for like sales increased 4.9% – its strongest like-for-like sales improvement in four years.

Total full-year sales rose 3.8% year-on-year to £15.3bn and underlying EBITDA jumped 11.2% to £835m over the 52-week period.

Morrisons chief executive Rami Baitiéh described the year as one of “urgent reinvigoration” for the grocer, which experienced increased customer transactions, market share growth and “positive switching” from competitors.

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The strong financial performance was driven by improvements made across the business, which resulted in “better availability in our stores, sharper prices, more effective promotions and a strong and growing loyalty scheme,” Baitiéh noted.

Throughout the year, progress in fresh availability saw an improvement of four percentage points, while Morrisons More Card linked sales grew to 68% at the end of the year and to 76% today.

In the two-week Christmas period around 3.5 million Morrisons Fivers were redeemed by customers.

Baitiéh added: “I want to thank everyone at Morrisons for their commitment and energy every day and for playing their part in the significantly improved performance that we are reporting today. Supermarkets, Convenience, Online, Wholesale and Myton Food Group all contributed to the improving picture, helping us serve our customers better.”