Leading UK retailer Tesco has announced that total group sales increased 15.7 per cent for the third quarter ended 27 November 2010, aided by strong performances across its strategy spectrum.
The group's home UK market grew faster than the industry as a whole, with total sales up 5 per cent, while like-for-like sales improved to 1.5 per cent despite inflation staying low for much of the quarter.
However, it was in international sales that Tesco truly flourished, with sales jumping 15.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
Asia proved to be particularly strong, with growth of 23.4 per cent, as investments made during the recession came through to provide good sales contributions from new store openings. Like-for-like sales in the region remained solid at 4.3 per cent, Tesco noted.
European operations (excluding UK) saw sales growth of 7.6 per cent, with like-for-like sales of 3.6 per cent, boosted by the Turkish and Hungarian markets, as all European businesses achieved quarterly like-for-like sales growth for the first time in three years.
In the US, sales climbed 38.5 per cent on a strong Thanksgiving holiday period, while like-for-like sales growth stood at 9.8 per cent, driven by increased customer numbers.
'We've made good progress in the third quarter with growth from across the group,' said chief executive Terry Leahy. 'Our continued investment in the shopping trip and our new space opening programme across our markets are giving us good sales momentum and market share gains.
'As the global economic recovery gathers pace, our broad-based strategy, combined with our ongoing focus on productivity savings, is enabling us to maintain growth in a sustainable, profitable way – delivering value for customers and shareholders,' he added.
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