 Tesco is the UK's largest supermarket |
The UK's largest supermarket group, Tesco, has reported further sales growth and said trading is "looking good" going into the Christmas period. Like-for-like UK sales - which strip out the impact of new stores - rose 5.6% excluding petrol in the three months to 25 November.
Overall group sales excluding petrol rose by 10.3% during the period, further boosted by overseas sales.
Tesco said its quarterly international sales were up 17.9%.
'Respectable numbers'
"There's all to play for, but so far so good, we are looking forward to having a good Christmas," said Tesco strategy and finance director Andrew Higginson.
Exana BNP analyst Tim Attenborough said Tesco's latest results were "a very respectable set of numbers".
With Tesco accounting for about �1 in every �8 spent in the UK retail sector, its results are closely watched.
One factor that may catch the attention of the Bank of England is that Tesco said its UK stores saw price inflation of 0.8% in the three months, driven by higher energy costs and a rise in meat prices.
However, Tesco said it expected this inflationary pressure "to subside in the months ahead".
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