UK retail giant Tesco saw its like-for-like sales edge up just 2.5% over the festive period, recording the smallest rise in Christmas sales since 1993.
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Tesco said that, adjusting for the 2.5% reduction in VAT, effective from early December, growth on a comparable basis was 3.5%.
Total sales grew 11.6%, helped by strong international growth, where sales rose 32.7%.
Sales in Asia were up 29.4% and European sales slowed to 6%.
Chief Eexecutive, Terry Leahy said that despite being pleased with the company’s progress, it was also “realistic”.
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By GlobalData“The current economic climate, and the strain this is putting on consumers everywhere, is something that all businesses are feeling, including ours.
“We are adjusting the business to meet the new challenges – focusing on becoming even cheaper for customers, keeping our costs low to help us to do this and managing our balance sheet and cash carefully.”
Last week, Sainsbury’s hailed its “best ever” Christmas after posting a 4.5% rise in third-quarter like-for-like sales.
