Retail giant Tesco has posted group like-for-like sales growth of 0.5% in the third quarter of its financial year, and +1.5% growth over the Christmas period.
In a statement issued this morning, the group said that UK and Republic of Ireland sales were up 1.9% in the third quarter, and 2.6% over Christmas.
If broken out into that division’s constituent parts, UK sales were up 0.7% in Q3 (+2.2% at Christmas), Republic of Ireland was down 0.2% in Q3 (+0.3% at Christmas) and its Booker wholesale division was up 11.0% (+6.7% at Christmas).
The group said that in the UK and Ireland, Tesco ‘outperformed’ the market in food, clothing and general merchandise, with quality and value perceptions up by 3.5 pts and 4.5 pts respectively.
READ MORE: What leading retail analysts said about Tesco's performance
'Achievement'
“As a team we have achieved a lot in the last 19 weeks,” commented chief executive Dave Lewis.
“In the UK, we delivered significant improvements in our competitive offer and this is reflected in a very strong Christmas performance which was ahead of the market.”
Central Europe
Further afield, its Central Europe business posted a 3.0% decline in sales in the third quarter (-2.4% at Christmas), while Asia was down 8.0% (-2.8% at Christmas).
On the Central Europe performance, if Poland is excluded, like-for-like sales rose by 1.1% in the 19-week period, Tesco said.
It noted that the Sunday closing regulations in Poland impacted its like-for-like performance in the country by 1.8%, while a reduction in ‘unprofitable’ general merchandise impacted sales by 1.2%.
In Asia, it said that comparatives were impacted due to ‘further changes to pricing, promotions and couponing in Thailand’, as well as restructured store operations.
In Central Europe, the reshaping of our business continues and we are confident of the outcome we envisaged,” said Lewis.
“In Asia, negotiations with suppliers are concluding satisfactorily and we can see this in our simpler, clearer, more impactful offer for customers.”
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
