Supermarket giant Tesco has reported modest UK sales growth over Christmas, saying it had been "hindered" by the severe winter weather.
Like-for-like sales excluding petrol, which strip out the effect of sales from new stores, rose 0.6% in the six weeks to 8 January from a year earlier.
Non-food sales had been "subdued" as snow and ice disrupted customers travelling to larger stores, it said.
The results follow strong figures from rivals Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
Shares in the company were down 2.5% in early trading.
Terry Leahy, Chief Executive, commented:
"The Group has continued to make good progress, helped by strong growth across our international businesses, which delivered over half of the Group’s growth. Our performance remains solid but was hindered in the run up to the important Christmas trading period in the UK by the disruptive effects of the severe winter weather conditions. Our staff and suppliers did a fantastic job in delivering a great shopping trip for customers in difficult circumstances."
Group Sales
Group sales in the six weeks to 8 January 2011 increased by 7.6%.
Good progress in international markets
Total international sales over the period grew at 14.2%, with strong performances in all three regions: Asia, Europe and the United States.
In Asia, total sales grew by 24.2%, with good like-for-like sales growth driven by particularly encouraging performances from Thailand and China.
In Europe, total sales grew by 5.6% (9.1% at constant exchange rates). Like-for-like sales growth was once again positive in every country and similar overall to our third quarter performance.
In the United States, Fresh & Easy continues to perform well helped by another successful Christmas and New Year period. Total sales grew by 36.9% and like-for-like sales growth remained strong, continuing the good progress made in the third quarter.
Steady UK Performance
In the UK, we are growing market share, with total sales growth increasing by 4.2%. Like-for-like sales increased by 0.6% and sales from new space grew by 3.6%, reflecting a strong contribution from some excellent recent new store openings.
In non-food, weather disruption for customers travelling to Tesco’s larger stores was unhelpful and this, combined with demanding comparisons against last year’s very good performance, meant that growth was subdued. Nevertheless, they saw strong category growth in toys, books and gaming. Tesco Mobile reached a significant new milestone over Christmas, growing to more than 2.5 million customers.
Online sales were strong in both food and non-food with double-digit total online sales growth. Tesco Direct had sales growth of 18%, with a strong performance in toys, gaming and small domestic appliances, building on growth of more than 50% last Christmas.
