Major supermarket cuts another 3,600 jobs as it slashes staff costs
The group, which cut more than 8,800 jobs in 2023, saw its headcount fall from 104,819 to 101,144 in the 12 months to 27 October 2024, Companies House accounts published this week show.
Cost cutting efforts helped Morrisons swing to a pre-tax profit of £2.1billion for 2024, having suffered losses of £919million and £1.3billion in the previous two years respectively.
However, it saw group revenues slump from £18.3billion to £17billion for the year.
Morrisons' market share has increasingly come under pressure from European discounters, with Lidl poised to take its spot as Britain's fifth largest supermarket after double-digit growth in the second quarter.
The group has already lost its position as the fourth-biggest grocer in Britain to Aldi.
Boss Rami Baitieh is attempting to engineer a recovery at Morrisons, which was acquired by private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in a debt-fuelled £7billion deal in October 2021.
Job losses in the year to the end of October 2024 were compounded in March when Morrisons announced it cut more than 350 jobs across its cafes, convenience stores, florists and fresh food counters following the introduction of higher labour costs in last year's Autumn Budget.
Morrisons is now alone among the supermarket sector in pushing ahead with staff cuts, with Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury's all announcing job losses since the Autumn Budget.
Mr Baitiéh - an ex air force colonel, dubbed 'Mr Fixit' – said in March: 'The changes… are a necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons and enable us to focus our investment into the areas that customers really value and that can play a full part in our growth.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
Sony hikes annual profit forecast by 4%, citing smaller trade war impact
TOKYO, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Sony (6758.T), opens new tab raised its full-year operating profit forecast on Thursday by 4% to 1.33 trillion yen ($9.01 billion), citing a diminished impact from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war. In May, Sony forecast a profit of 1.28 trillion yen, factoring in a 100 billion yen hit from the tariffs. The Japanese conglomerate has transformed from a maker of household electronics such as the Walkman to an entertainment behemoth spanning games, movies, music and chips. Sony reported a 36.5% rise in operating profit to 340 billion yen for the April-June quarter, beating an estimate of 288 billion yen from eight analysts surveyed by LSEG. ($1 = 147.5700 yen)
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Keir Starmer must let in sunlight to avoid further lobbying scandals
Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton long ago predicted that lobbying would be 'the next big scandal' to hit politics, warning of the dangers of what happens behind closed doors. 'We all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisers for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way,' he said in 2010. It was somewhat apt that despite introducing the first real oversight for lobbyists, the former prime minister was caught in just such a scandal after he departed from office. Despite a repeated cycle of scandals involving what Lord Cameron spoke of, lobbyists have continued to work in the shadows. As this newspaper has exposed, the Starmer government is facing serious questions over 'cash for access' after businesses were approached by a Labour group offering private meetings with 'an influential Labour figure'. The Labour Infrastructure Forum (LIF), which is run by lobbyists from Bradshaw Advisory along with an advisory council of senior party figures, has offered businesses the chance to meet 'key policymakers' to help 'shape the discussion'. The forum has offered sponsorship packages for potential clients, including breakfast meetings for almost £9,500. Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has spoken at an LIF event. • Labour 'leaving public in the dark' about payments from lobbyists Although the LIF insists that the sponsorship money is used to cover costs, the group declined a request by The Times to disclose details of which companies had sponsored events at what cost until its next annual report. The Labour Party too has declined to say which senior figures had attended any LIF meetings. Yet undercover reporting has shown Gerry McFall, director of the forum alongside his leading role at Bradshaw Advisory, boasted of meetings between his clients and senior figures in government, including Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary. There is a clear problem here that must be addressed. The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, which was set up during Lord Cameron's premiership, governs lobbying and is supposed to ensure it is transparent and open. Businesses who regularly engage in lobbying, known as 'consultant lobbyists', are required to register their activities. Yet the LIF was not required to register as it did not fall under this category: in-house lobbyists who are employed directly by companies, think tanks or 'forums' are not required to register. This must be addressed: all lobbying activity should be recorded, along with the details of who exactly is meeting which ministers. That being said, ministers should show more common sense. Mr Jones should have done due diligence before speaking at an LIF event. The same goes for Mr Reynolds, the minister most exposed to the potential influence of businesses. The lack of records charting his meeting with a Bradshaw Advisory client at a Labour conference highlights another flaw in transparency rules, which does not require ministers to report meetings at such events not deemed to be in a ministerial capacity. Even if the party insists it was instead 'held in a political capacity', Mr Reynolds should have realised that he should strive for transparency. • How we exposed Labour's cosy links to lobbyists None of this is to say that all lobbying is inherently bad, or that onerous restrictions are required. It is essential to good policy making that ministers hear from businesses — particularly a government that has as little private sector experience as this one. But it must be done in an open and transparent manner, something lacking at present. According to an analysis by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, registered Westminster lobbyists account for just 0.5 per cent of registered lobbyists across a host of similar countries. If Sir Keir Starmer is to avoid further such scandals, he must strengthen the oversight. By letting in as much sunlight as possible, it will go some way to curtail any sense of wrongdoing, real or perceived.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Has the digital nomad dream turned sour?
When Alex Holder fled London's stressful work culture and hard edges for a family-friendly life in Lisbon, Portugal, she couldn't believe her luck. Living in a light-filled apartment in a beautiful building in a street with no cars, she appreciated the more balanced approach to life she had found in the Portuguese capital, along with the lower cost of living. But after a few years she began to grow increasingly uneasy. Looking around, she noticed an increase in people like her who were enjoying the cheaper costs of living in Portugal, but who might also be making life harder for locals. 'There was just this growing awareness that something doesn't feel right – there's this wealth gap growing. And perhaps I'm part of it,' she tells Helen Pidd. Was she pushing up prices and helping change the culture of the place she loved? Lauren Razavi runs a thinktank that explores the future of migration, citizenship and borders. She explains how countries have sought to attract remote workers, digital expats and digital nomads – and what has changed.
