Tesco enjoys best Christmas season in more than decade

Tesco is aiming to grab an even bigger slice of the grocery market this year after winning its best share in more than 10 years over Christmas with strong sales of fresh food and its Finest own-label range.

- Sarah Butler

The supermarket, which has an almost 29% market share, according to Worldpanel by Numerator, said it had taken the most trade from Asda, Britain’s third largest supermarket chain, which has been struggling to turn around falling sales.

However, shares in Tesco dropped by more than 6% yesterday as analysts said its third-quarter sales performance was behind expectations in all markets, including the UK, Ireland and central Europe, and at its Booker wholesale chain.

Sales in the UK rose 3.2% in the six weeks to 3 January against hopes of 3.9%, while in central Europe sales rose 0.8%, about half the rate expected. Booker’s sales fell 2.1%, against hopes of an 0.8% rise.

Ken Murphy, Tesco’s chief executive, said he was “not even remotely concerned about [the sales] aspect of performance” and added that Booker had mostly been affected by poor trading in tobacco products, which are low profit.