TSCO Tesco Plc

By Ian Walker 
 

LONDON--Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN), the U.K.'s number one grocer by market share, together with number four peer Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRWSY) were the fastest-growing grocers in the latest 12-week period, a survey from Kantar Worldpanel showed Tuesday.

For the 12 weeks ended Feb. 25, Tesco grew sales 2.7% to 7.79 billion pounds ($10.77 billion), while Morrisons grew sales 2.7% to GBP3 billion. However, Tesco's market share fell to 27.9%, from 28% for the 12 weeks ended Feb. 26, 2017 while Morrisons was unchanged at 10.6%.

At the other end of the scale, German grocers Aldi and Lidl continued to gain market share. Their combined market share grew to 12.1% in the 12-week period, up from 11% for the comparable period. Aldi's sales rose 14% to GBP1.96 billion, while Lidl's grew 13% to GBP1.41 billion, Kantar said.

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 16.2% in the latest survey from 16.5%, with sales increasing 1.1% to GBP4.52 billion, Kantar reported.

Asda, a subsidiary of Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT), had its market share fall to 15.6%, from 15.7%, with sales 2.3% higher at GBP4.36 billion.

The market share of up-market retailer Waitrose, a division of John Lewis Partnership PLC, fell to 5.2% in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 25, from 5.3%. Sales climbed 2.3% to GBP1.46 billion, Kantar said.

Separately, a survey by Nielsen Homescan shows Aldi and Lidl growing market share. For the 12 weeks ended Feb. 24, Aldi's market share has risen to 8.1% from 7.4% for the comparable period ended Feb. 25, 2017 while Lidl's has risen to 5.4% from 4.9%.

According to Nielsen, Tesco's market share has dropped to 27.2% in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 24, from 27.4% for the comparable period ended Feb. 25, 2017, Sainsbury's fell to 15.3%, from 15.8%, Asda fell to 14.1%, from 14.2% and Morrisons fell to 9.9% from 10.1%.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 06, 2018 03:47 ET (08:47 GMT)

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