Record Christmas boosts Sainsbury's

7th Jan 2010 07:01

Sainsbury said a record Christmas performance completed a strong third quarter in which like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose by 3.7%.Like-for-like sales, including fuel, rose by 3.8% in the 13 weeks to 2 January, while like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT were up by 4.2%. Total sales rose 6.2%, or 6.3% excluding fuel. The non-food range grew at over four times the rate of food in the quarter, offsetting lower food price inflation.The UK supermarket chain, the number three operator in the sector, served on average one million more customers each week over the quarter, hitting an all time high of 24 million in the seven days up to and including Christmas Eve. The January Sale has also started well, it added.There were over 16 million registered Nectar card holders with regular Sainsbury's users up 750,000 versus this time last year. The group heavily pushed its own loyalty card scheme following rival Tesco's increased Clubcard promotion. 'The business continues to perform well in what remains a challenging consumer environment,' said chief executive Justin King.'Our universal customer appeal together with our accelerated growth plans means we are well placed to make continued good progress in 2010.' Sainsbury has been playing catch-up with Tesco and Asda for the last few years, all the while looking over its shoulder at fast growing sector number four, Morrisons.Shares in Sainsbury are currently up more than 2%, while rivals Tesco and Morrison's are also posting gains.