Retail giants Tesco and Marks & Spencer both saw a bump in food sales over the vital Christmas period despite both mentioning a challenging economic backdrop.Tesco said sales in the UK were up 3.2% from last year and it had now notched up its highest market share in more than a decade.M&S said that it had seen a record number of customers over Christmas and its food sales were “strong”.However, sales at its clothing, home and beauty business fell, with M&S blaming the decline on lower footfall on the High Street and lingering issues from last year’s cyber-attack.M&S suffered a sales fall of almost 3% in its fashion, home and beauty products which it said was still suffering from stock and inventory issues following the cyber-attack.Chief executive Stuart Machin said: “Food sales were strong and the business continues to outperform, hitting a new market share milestone in the period.”Fashion, Home & Beauty is getting back on track as we work through the tail end of recovery,” he added.Tesco boss Ken Murphy said he was “delighted” with the supermarket’s performance over Christmas amid “intense” competition.He highlighted the performance of the Tesco “Finest” range, which saw double-digit growth.The supermarket is now expecting to report annual operating profits at the upper end of the £2.9bn-£3.1bn range it predicted in October.
Source link
Tesco and M&S report strong Christmas food sales
