British retailer Tesco has reported a 5.7% increase in underlying UK Christmas sales, in line with market forecasts and a slight improvement on the third-quarter trading performance. This figure strips out the effect of new stores.
The headline sales growth rate for the seven weeks to January 7, which excludes fuel sales, is the best of the British supermarkets and just above the 5.5% figure for the third quarter. Same-store sales including fuel grew by 10.1%.
Total group sales including new space increased by 11.5% and international sales in Tesco's eastern European and south-east Asian markets grew by 16%.
