Tesco’s share price jumps as Kantar figures reveal the supermarket has grown sales for first time in a year – but it is still losing market share
Tesco's share price jumped nearly two per cent this morning after figures revealed it had grown for the first time since January 2014.
The UK's biggest retailer recorded sales growth of 0.3 per cent to £7.9bn for the 12 weeks to February 1, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
But that was not enough to stem the decline of its market share. The supermarket now accounts for 29 per cent of total spend, down from 29.2 per cent this time last year.
Meanwhile, Asda has overtaken Sainsbury's to reclaim its title as the UK's second largest supermarket, despite both retailers recording year-on-year sales drops.
Sainsbury's typically performs better than Asda over Christmas, which had pushed it above its rival, Kantar Worldpanel said.
But both have had market share shaved off them in the last year. For the 12 weeks to February 1, 2015, Asda took 16.9 per cent of total consumer spend on groceries, while Sainsbury's took 16.7 per cent. This time last year it was 17.3 per cent and 17.1 per cent respectively.
Kantar figures show that discounters Aldi and Lidl continue their assault on the big four, while premium supermarket Waitrose is also growing, just managing to keep ahead of the European challengers.
Waitrose retains its sixth position with 5.2 per cent of total spend, up from 4.9 per cent. It is edging closer to the Co-operative, which has dropped from 6.1 per cent to 5.9 per cent over the 12 months.
Aldi and Lidl have climbed to 4.9 per cent and 3.5 per cent, from 4.1 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively.
Overall, the grocery market grew 1.1 per cent in the 12 weeks, the fastest rate since June 2014.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “Shoppers are taking advantage of both lower fuel prices and the continuing price war among the supermarkets to slightly increase their grocery spending.
“This has pushed the market into 1.1 per cent growth, low by historical standards but a considerable improvement compared to November 2014, when the market contracted.”
“All of the major grocers have continued to compete fiercely on price leading to like-for-like grocery prices falling by 1.2 per cent. This is another record low, saving Britain’s shoppers £327m over the past 12 weeks.
McKevitt said Tesco was “bouncing back from a tough year”. He noted that chief executive Dave Lewis’s “efforts to overhaul the supermarket attracting an additional 236,000 shoppers into its stores in the last 12 weeks”.
However, he noted that Aldi and Lidl could “find their accelerated growth levels hard to match in 2015”, describing their growth as “impressive but a relative slowing”.