Asda answered claims that Sainsbury’s has become cheaper on essential goods in the best possible manner, with an increase in sales and a boost in its market share to record highs.
Chief executive Andy Bond announced buoyant figures for the end of 2008 and said business is booming at the beginning of the year.
He announced a 7.2 per cent increase in underlying sales in the 12 weeks to December 31, beating its sales and profits plans for the full year by delivering a sales rise of 6.5 per cent.
The Leeds-based supermarket is the UK's second biggest, holding 17.2 per cent share of the grocery market, up 0.3 percentage points in the 12 weeks to January 25 against last year.
This is in stark contrast to Asda’s main rival Tesco, which recorded a 2.5 per cent increase in the seven weeks to January 10.
Asda own-label sales grew by eight per cent year on year in the 12 weeks to January 25, while brands grew by 10 per cent, according to TNS data.
In the US Wal-Mart, which owns Asda, reported that its discount stores recorded 50 per cent of all US retail growth during 2008, with global sales passing $400 billion (£280bn).
Bond was bullish in defence of claims that people were trading down to Asda in times of economic uncertainty. "For a lot of people, and this is evidentially true, their whole behaviour is to retrench back to things they trust and know and have a long-term relationship with," he told the Financial Times.
Bond also said the UK business planned "substantially bigger" savings plans this year compared with 2008 and that sales growth had continued to gather speed in the early part of 2009.
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