Tesco reported a smaller decline in UK underlying quarterly sales after its food sales picked up during the period.
The UK’s biggest retailer reported a 0.1 per cent year-on-year drop in first quarter like-for-like sales.
The like-for-like figure, which strips out the effect of store openings, sales tax changes and fuel price fluctuations, was an improvement on the 0.7 per cent decline suffered in the preceding quarter.
The supermarket announced that overall group sales excluding petrol grew 6.7 per cent during the opening quarter of the year (7.8 per cent including petrol), with like-for-like sales up 1.6 per cent.
This rise was driven by international sales growth, with an 'improving overall pattern of like-for-like increases and market share' a feature of overseas markets.
Tesco CEO Philip Clarke said: "Tesco has made a good start to the new financial year, despite consumer sentiment in many of our key markets remaining subdued.
"The overall performance of our businesses in Asia and Europe has again been pleasing, led by further strong growth in Thailand and across our central European region.
In the US, the group said that it was 'encouraged' by the momentum in its Fresh & Easy business, with sales up 21.9 per cent and like-for-like sales growth of 11.1 per cent.
"Uncertainties remain but with early, encouraging signs of better performance emerging in both the UK and the US, I am confident that this start will provide the platform for another year of growth and rising return on capital employed for Tesco," Clarke added.
The CEO said that the group was making progress with its strategy, and Tesco confirmed that it was performing in-line with expectations and the yearly outlook remained unchanged.
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