David Potts unable to halt Morrisons sales slide in first quarter

British supermarket Morrisons has seen its sales continue to slide despite appointing a new chief executive who was tasked with turning the struggling brand around.

Appointed on 16 March as a replacement for Dalton Philips, David Potts' main objective is to put Morrisons back on track after more than two straight years of falling sales.

Unsurprisingly, he has been unable to achieve this in his first quarter at the UK's fourth biggest supermarket by market share as like-for-like sales were down by 2.9% in the 13 weeks to 3 May.

Potts said: "My initial impressions from my first seven weeks are of a business eager to listen to customers and improve. I have been very pleased by the desire and support of colleagues, and by the genuine warmth and affection for Morrisons shared by both colleagues and customers."

Augustin Eden, an analyst at Accendo Markets, implied that Morrisons has been the most wounded by the supermarket price wars.

Eden said: "Morrison's is now the runt of the supermarket litter which means it may have least to lose but most at risk in what is set to be a vicious supermarket war as all of the big four attempt to claw back market share from each other and the discounters (who control about 8% of the market combined). It's a war on several fronts."