TSCDY Tesco PLC (PK)

By Ian Walker and Maryam Cockar

Tesco PLC's (TSCO.LN) market share remained steady for the first time since December 2016, while the other three of the top-four grocers continued to slip back as German rivals Aldi and Lidl gained, a survey from Kantar Worldpanel showed Wednesday.

For the 12 weeks ended March 25, Tesco's sales grew 2.4% to 7.32 billion pounds ($10.3 billion), while its market share was unchanged at 27.6%.

Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC's (MRW.LN) sales rose 2.4% to GBP2.77 billion but its market share slipped to 10.4% from 10.5% the year earlier.

Meanwhile, German grocers Aldi and Lidl continued to gain market share. Aldi's sales rose 11% to GBP1.94 billion and its market share increased to 7.3% from 6.8%. Lidl's sales grew 10% to GBP1.42 billion and its market share rose to 5.3% from 5%.

Kantar monitors the grocery-purchasing habits of 30,000 demographically representative households in the U.K.

J Sainsbury PLC's (SBRY.LN) market share fell to 15.8% in the latest survey from 16.1%, with sales increasing 0.6% to GBP4.19 billion, Kantar reported.

Asda, a subsidiary of Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT), had its market share slip 15.6% from 15.8%, while sales rose 1.8% to GBP4.15 billion.

The market share of upmarket retailer Waitrose, a division of John Lewis Partnership PLC, was largely unchanged at 5% from 5.1%, while sales rose 1.5% to GBP1.33 billion, Kantar said.

Separately, a survey by Nielsen Homescan also showed Aldi and Lidl's market share growing. For the 12 weeks ended March 24, Aldi's market share has risen to 8.7% from 8.0% for the comparable period ended March 25, 2017, while Lidl's has risen to 5.8% from 5.3%, Nielsen reported.

According to Nielsen, Tesco's market share has dropped to 27% in the 12 weeks ended March 24 from 27.1%, while Sainsbury's fell to 15% from 15.4%, Asda's fell to 13.9% from 14% and Morrisons' fell to 9.8% from 10%.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com and Maryam Cockar at maryam.cockar@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 04, 2018 04:18 ET (08:18 GMT)

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