MORRISONS surprised pundits with better than expected festive sales in the nine weeks

to January 3.

But there was a sting in the tail with the grocer naming its Westgate store in Bradford , which has more than 80 staff, among seven underperforming sites earmarked for closure . The plans put 680 jobs at risk in total.and will leave Bradford-based Morrisons with around 490 stores.

The latest closures follow the axing of 21 stores and the sale of 140 M-Local convenience stores and cutbacks at the Gain Lane head office affecting around 700 jobs , Morrisons expects the restructuring and store closure costs to be £60 million

Morrisons. reported a 0.2 per cent rise in like-for-like sales excluding fuel in the vital festive trading period in a marked turnaround after recent hefty sales declines.

Chief executive David Potts said: "We are pleased with our improved trading performance over the Christmas period.

"While there is of course much more to do, we are making important progress in improving all aspects of the shopping trip."

The group said it was "beginning to attract customers back" as the Christmas performance marked its first rise in sales in around four years and confounds expectations of a sharp fall.

It follows a 2.6 per cent drop in the previous three months and comes after a disappointing performance last year, when sales fell 3.1 per cent.

Morrisons said its overall sales rise came mainly after an improvement from its core stores, although online sales contributed 0.9 per cent to the nine-week growth.

Mr Potts warned that Morrisons was on a long journey to recovery and was takin steps to improve the shopping experience for customers.

he said: "We are working at pace to improve all aspects of the shopping trip and customer satisfaction levels remain significantly ahead of last year. We are beginning to attract customers back to Morrisons, with the like for like number of transactions up 1.3 per cent year-on-year in our core supermarkets. In addition, online sales grew nearly 100 per cent year-on-year."

Morrisons reduced net debt to below £1.9 billion in November and has lowered its guidance for the year-end figure to between £1.65 billion and £1.8 billion.

Underlying pre-tax profit is expected to be higher in the second half of 2015/16 than the first half, with full year underlying pre-tax profit expected to be between £295 million and £310 million before the restructuring and store closure costs.

"We continue to focus on our cash flow improvement programmes and now expect the benefits, specifically working capital and property proceeds, to be greater than we first anticipated," said Mr Potts.