This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25648615
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Sainsbury's hails 'strong sales' | Sainsbury's hails 'strong sales' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Sainsbury's says its third-quarter trading saw a "strong sales" performance "in a tough market". | Sainsbury's says its third-quarter trading saw a "strong sales" performance "in a tough market". |
| In the 14 weeks to 4 January, like-for-like sales, stripping out the effect of new stores, rose 0.2% excluding fuel. | |
| The news was better than expected, giving the supermarket chain a 36th consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth. | |
| Sainsbury's said the seven days before Christmas were the firm's "busiest ever" trading week. | Sainsbury's said the seven days before Christmas were the firm's "busiest ever" trading week. |
| During that period, Sainsbury's stores recorded more than 28 million transactions. | |
| Late last year, Sainsbury's overtook Asda and moved into the number two spot for the largest supermarket in the UK, second to Tesco. | Late last year, Sainsbury's overtook Asda and moved into the number two spot for the largest supermarket in the UK, second to Tesco. |
| Chief executive Justin King told the BBC that trading conditions had been "tough and challenging" and there had been an expectation that the firm's sales might have fallen. | |
| However, while October and November had been difficult, the performance over Christmas had resulted in "a small amount of growth for the quarter, taken as a whole". | |
| "We've beaten our competition," he added. | |
| Sainsbury's also reported healthy growth in sales of its own-brand Taste the Difference range, which saw a rise in sales of more than 10%. | |
| Other successful sectors included Sainsbury's convenience stores, which grew nearly 18%, and online shopping, which notched up more than 10% growth. | |
| Late rush | |
| At the same time, rival Waitrose reported strong sales in the run-up to Christmas. | |
| On a like-for-like measure, sales for the five-week period to Christmas Eve rose 3.1% compared with 2012. | |
| Waitrose said it was a record Christmas period, with a 4.1% rise in sales for the 12 days ending 31 December. | |
| Like other retailers, Waitrose has reported a huge increase in online sales, which were up by more than a third compared with 2012. | |
| Waitrose managing director, Mark Price, said: "Every year retailers say that Christmas is late, but with some justification in 2013, as customers phased their shopping in line with the mid-week fall of the main festivities." | |
| The Co-op also reported rising sales in its food business over the festive season, "driven by the success of the strategy to strengthen its core convenience offer". | |
| In the 13 weeks to 4 January, its like-for-like sales grew by 1% compared with the same period a year earlier. However, total food sales were flat over the whole quarter as the Co-op disposed of some larger stores. | |
| So far, Debenhams has been the big disappointment in the Christmas trading updates from UK retailers. It warned of a sharp drop in profits due to heavy discounting. |