Grocery market leader reports strong growth in Q3 and Christmas trading
Tesco has credited its ”most competitive offering to date” for a strong set of Christmas results.
The grocery market leader recorded a like-for-like sales increase of 7.8% for the Christmas trading period in the UK & Ireland, with third-quarter results up 5.2%.
Wholesale division Booker saw sales climb 11.7% over Christmas and 9.3% in the quarter overall. Tesco noted that it has maintained its market share at 27.5%, with net switching gains in December.
The supermarket said its strong performance was driven by a focus on value and quality, with a particularly good result in fresh food, which rose 8.1%.
Chief executive Ken Murphy said: “I’m really pleased with our performance over this period – particularly the further strong growth at Christmas on top of the exceptional growth of the last few years.
”We’ve delivered a strong market share performance in the UK and ROI, Booker has continued to grow strongly despite a particularly tough catering backdrop and our Central European business has delivered its highest sales growth for many years.
”I’m extremely proud of the way Tesco has stepped forward to help customers dealing with tough times this Christmas. By delivering relentlessly on the strategic priorities that we set out 18 months ago, we have made sure that customers know that they will benefit from great value and quality in every part of their basket, however they choose to shop with us.
“We go into the new calendar year with good momentum and I am confident we can continue to maintain our competitiveness and deliver a strong performance relative to the market despite the challenging conditions ahead.”
