Somerfield has revealed a slowdown in its most recent trading putting further pressure upon the troubled supermarket group.

The supermarket group claimed underlying sales within its chain have grown by 1.5 per cent for the second half of the year. However, city analysts have calculated that like-for-like sales at Somerfield slipped to one per cent over the last 14 weeks compared to 2.1 per cent growth in the previous 10.

The chain is continuing to lose sales to its bigger rivals and share have now slipped to 99p, despite entrepreneurs John Lovering and Bob Mackenzie considering raising their original bid of 103p-a-share.

Rumours of a new bid have increased as Lovering has appointed Morgan Stanley as a second financial adviser on his £510 million bid for the group.