Sainsbury's growth quickens

6th Oct 2010 07:01

Supermarket chain Sainsbury's has outdone arch rival Tesco, reporting a 2% increase in like for like sales excluding fuel for the first half, in line with market expectations.Britain's number three supermarket grew like for like sales, ignoring petrol, by 2.9% in the second quarter. It was 1.2% in the first three months. Tesco managed just 0.3% in the first half, 0.4% for the second quarter and 0.1% for the first."We've delivered another strong performance and grown market share," chief executive Justin King said Wednesday.Total sales for the 16 weeks to 2 October jumped 6.6% (5.2% without fuel) and were up 7% for the six months (4.8% ex fuel)."New space has continued to perform ahead of our expectations delivering a further 2.3% contribution to sales growth (excluding fuel)," said King, whose firm opened seven supermarkets, 12 convenience stores and completed 7 extensions during the period. "We are pleased with our progress in the first half of the financial year," added King. "We expect the consumer environment to remain challenging."Interim results are due on 10 November.