SUPERMARKET group Morrisons said it had overcome the distraction of a high-profile takeover battle to deliver further strong sales growth.

The Bradford group, which is at the centre of the bidding war for Safeway, lifted total sales 13 per cent during February and the first week of March.

The year-on-year figure, which rose 7.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis, was announced at the same time as Morrisons said pre-tax profits for the 12 months to February 2 had gone up 13.8 per cent to £276.6m.

The annual results, which were at the top end of City expectations, were welcomed yesterday by chief executive Sir Kenneth Morrison who said: "We have achieved good results. Despite the distraction of the Safeway takeover we have stuck to our job."

Morrisons tabled an offer for Safeway in January while four other parties - Tesco, Asda owner Wal-Mart, Sainsbury's and Bhs owner Philip Green - have made approaches but not yet made formal bids.

The position should become clearer later this week when the results of an Office of Fair Trading inquiry into the five approaches are known.

Sir Kenneth said he was confident that his offer would be cleared but declined to comment on the others.

He said: "We are confident that a combination of Morrisons and Safeway would be good for both customers and suppliers, leading to healthy competition between four major national superstore operators. Any other combination would reduce competition to three majors with one smaller, albeit strong regional player."