Trading Statement
· UK like-for-like sales growth of +1.8% benefiting from an improving offer for customers
o Recovering in-store performance - particularly in food
o Strong contribution from online
· Asia and Europe - similar performance to Q3
· Chris Bush appointed as UK Managing Director
Group sales in the six weeks to 5 January 2013 increased by 3.8% including petrol (3.5% at actual exchange rates) and by 3.9% excluding petrol (3.6% at actual exchange rates).
In the UK, total sales including VAT and petrol grew by 4.2% and by 4.3% excluding petrol.
Like-for-like sales grew by 1.8% - our strongest rate of growth for three years. This was driven by a much stronger food performance than last year and a further improvement from the third quarter. Most of our efforts to date under our six-part plan to Build a Better Tesco in the UK have focused on food - and particularly fresh food - so this performance provides further encouragement that the delivery of the plan is on track.
Our international businesses performed at a similar level to Q3, with total international sales growth of 3.4% (2.6% at actual exchange rates).
Asia delivered an increase in total sales of 7.6% (8.1% at actual exchange rates), with a slightly better like-for-like sales growth rate than the third quarter. This reflects a stronger performance in Thailand more than offsetting the impact of a greater number of enforced store closure days in Korea than we experienced in Q3.
In Europe, total sales declined by (0.6)% (a decline of (2.4)% at actual exchange rates). The like-for-like sales performance for the region was similar to the third quarter and continued to be impacted by reduced consumer spending, with all markets experiencing economic headwinds.
In the United States, total sales for Fresh & Easy were up by 4.1%. We will update on progress on our strategic review of Fresh & Easy at our Preliminary Results in April, as planned.