Supermarket Tesco has hailed its highest market share for more than a decade as it notched up a rise in festive sales despite “intense” competition.
The UK’s biggest grocery chain reported a 3.3% rise in UK and Ireland like-for-like sales over the six weeks to January 3, with growth of 3.2% in the UK and 3.8% across Ireland.
Sales over its third quarter before the Christmas period lifted 4% in the 13 weeks to November 22.
The group increased its share of the market to 28.7% in the three months to December 28, which jumped to 29.4% in the key Christmas month, according to Worldpanel data.
The group said the strong Christmas performance meant it was now on track for annual profits at the upper end of its recently-upgraded guidance for between £2.9 billion and £3.1 billion.
But the festive sales growth marked a slight slowdown on the 3.7% reported across the UK and Ireland business for the same period the previous year and the group said competition was fierce across the sector as the main players compete on price.
Chief executive Ken Murphy said: “Our investments in value, quality and service drove further gains in customer satisfaction and strong growth in fresh food, contributing to our highest UK market share in over a decade.
“Competition is as intense as ever and we know value remains a priority for customers.”
The group recently said it was bringing back its blue-and-white striped value logo as it ramps up its price war with German discounter Aldi.
Tesco said earlier this week the return of the blue-and-white stripes – which it dropped in 2012 – would “symbolise value at Tesco” and would be “front and centre of a major marketing campaign highlighting the low prices available on leading branded products”.