// Tesco posts Christmas sales growth in line with market expectations and kept its full-year guidance unchanged
//UK sales in the six weeks to January 7 grew by 7.2%
Tesco enjoyed a bumper Christmas trading period in 2022 as revenues jumped 6.1% to £19.7bn in the UK and Ireland for the quarter to January 7.
The UK’s biggest retailer told markets this morning that it is the only one of the major grocers to have grown its market share versus pre-pandemic levels over Christmas, claiming it took the business from its premium rivals
It saw sales of its premium ‘Finest’ range increase more than 8% year on year, suggesting some trading down from higher-end grocers.
As a result, the supermarket now continues to expect adjusted operating profit from its retail activities of between £2.4bn and £2.5bn for the full year, with another £120mn-£160mn coming from its financial services unit, despite an escalating cost-of-living crisis.
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Tesco, which has a 27.5% share of Britain’s grocery market, said on Thursday UK like-for-like sales rose 4.3% in its third quarter to Nov. 26 and were up 7.2% in the six weeks to Jan. 7.
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.”
The update comes a day after rival Sainsbury’s revealed it had enjoyed a record Christmas at the tills.
The grocer, which posted a 7.1% sales jump over Christmas, said online grocery sales were down over 10% over the period as a result of the shift back to stores.
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