Marc Bolland has signalled an ambition to expand Wm Morrison’s store portfolio by more than a quarter after Britain’s fourth-biggest supermarket chain lifted full-year sales faster than rivals.

The company’s chief executive said he had identified more than 100 areas across the UK – excluding the 38 stores Morrison is buying from Co-op-Somerfield – that would suit one of his supermarkets. He said Morrison would be opening smaller stores, in the 11,000 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft range, to achieve this.