SUPERMARKET firm Morrisons continues to lose market share, new figures have revealed.

The UK’s fourth-biggest grocer saw its market share slip to 12% in the 12 weeks to December 23, from 12.4% the previous year.

Earlier this week, the Bradford-based chain said that sales at stores open for more than a year fell by 2.5% over Christmas – the bottom end of City forecasts.

Sainsbury’s was the only one of the big four grocers to increase market share in the run-up to Christmas, according to figures from market researcher Kantar Worldpanel.

Sainsbury’s, the UK’s third-biggest grocer, which reports on festive trading tomorrow, saw its market share edge up to 17.1% year-on-year from 17%.

Industry leader Tesco’s market share dipped to 30.5% from 30.6% during the same period in 2011.

Leeds-based Asda, owned by US retail giant Wal-Mart, saw its market share slip to 17.3% from 17.5%.

Discount retailers Aldi, Lidl and Iceland were the biggest winners in the run-up to Christmas, growing sales by 30.1%, 10.8% and 9.7% respectively.

Iceland, headed by Grange Moor-born Malcolm Walker, has a market share of 2.2% – a 12-year high – which compares with 2.1% a year earlier.

Aldi’s 3.2% share of the UK grocery market was a record high, Kantar said, and compares with 2.6% a year earlier.

Till rolls at Morrisons, which has stores at Waterloo and Meltham, fell by 0.6% to £3.2bn during the 12 weeks.

It hopes to increase the number of convenience stores from 12 to 70 by the end of 2013.