Supermarket chain Morrisons this morning unveiled a 0.9% dip in like-for-like sales (LFLs) in its half-year results.

Turnover was up by 2.3% to £8.9bn and the group’s underlying profit also increased by 1% to £445m.

It said the “sustained pressure on consumer spending” was to blame for the drop in its LFLs performance.

However, Dalton Phillips, chief executive, added: “We have made further good progress against our strategic objectives – the building blocks that are the foundations of the future success of our business.”

Morrisons hopes to have 100 of its new Fresh Format stores in place by the end of the year and also explained it was on track to launch its convenience stores in London, thanks to a new distribution centre.

It added that it has a clearly defined vision to be ‘Different and Better than Ever’, and would achieve this by “constantly improving our business whilst leveraging our unique production capabilities and in-house craft skills to deliver a compelling and distinctive offer to our customers”.

Earlier this year, Morrisons relaunched its in-store bakeries with new product lines, packaging and baking methods.

In a bid to respond to consumer demand, the company introduced more than 30 new bakery lines, including hand-dimpled focaccia, tiger paw, sourdough boule and chocolate twists.