Bradford supermarket chain Morrisons slumped to an annual loss of £176 million today amid falling sales and one-off costs of £903m.

Britain's fourth-biggest supermarket fell into the red in the year to February 2 after a profit of £879m the year before.

The £903m charge included write-downs on the value of its stores and its 2011 acquisition of online children's wear retailer Kiddicare, which it now plans to sell in the wake of a poor financial performance.

Like-for-like sales at Morrisons were down 2.8 per cent for the year.

The grocer, which belatedly began rolling out an online operation earlier this year, also warned that the "challenging consumer and market environment" would persist into the current year.

Chief executive Dalton Philips said it was investing £1 billion over the next three years to improve value and "defend and strengthen our competitive position".