UK supermarket giant Tesco has seen its like-for-like sales slip by 0.5% in Q3, according to a trading statement published this morning (14 January).
The retailer’s core UK market saw a 1.5% decline, according to the statement, which it said ‘reflects [the] impact of lapping unsustainable couponing in prior year’. International like-for-like sales were up 2.9%.
The results also featured details of Tesco’s Christmas sales performance, which saw a rise in Group sales of 2.1% and UK like-for-like sales growth of 1.3%.
“Our Christmas performance was strong, benefiting from lower prices on an outstanding range of products,” said chief executive Dave Lewis. “Our customer service improved materially and our colleagues went the extra mile. Put simply, we put customers at the heart of everything we did and they responded by buying more of what they needed at Tesco."
On its international performance, Lewis added, “International sales have also continued to strengthen, driven once again by improvements across the offer. We continued our strong positive sales momentum in both Europe and Asia, with our Thai business reaching its highest ever market share.”
In Ireland, its nearest neighbour, Tesco Ireland posted a sales decline of 1.2% in the third quarter of the year.
Commenting, Barclays European Food Retail Equity Research said, “Even against expectations that have likely risen over the last week, Tesco's trading statement can hardly fail to impress. UK LFL sales were ahead of expectations – nicely so in 3Q and dramatically so in the Christmas period.”
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
