Grocer Morrisons was the biggest loser on the FTSE 100 this morning after reporting a slowdown in sales growth.

Shares in the retailer fell 2.57 per cent by 09:51 BST on the index following a trading statement showing like-for-like sales growth of seven per cent, excluding fuel, for the 13 weeks to May 4th.

Although robust, the figure represents slower growth than over the Christmas period, when the UK’s fourth-biggest supermarket reported like-for-like growth of 9.5 per cent.

Morrisons said it has continued to benefit from improving customer numbers and has again grown like-for-like sales ahead of the grocery market.

In a trading statement, the supermarket chain said: “While the market backdrop remains challenging with ongoing pressure on commodity and energy costs and weak consumer confidence, the board is encouraged by the performance of the business to date.

“Performance in the first quarter has been in line with our expectations and our financial outlook for the current year remains unchanged.”

Morrisons also said that, after a long period of deflation in supermarket prices, inflation is back – but the company manages all its costs carefully so that customers will continue to get value.

The sales growth is still ahead of its bigger rivals, Tesco, Asda and J Sainbury, who posted four per cent, 6.4 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively for roughly the same period.