8th Mar 2016 08:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC again emerged unscathed in the latest Kantar Worldpanel grocery sales data on Tuesday, as the other big four supermarkets all saw sales fall, and Asda Ltd and Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC took heavy hits.
Total UK grocery sales for the 12 weeks to February 28 fell 2.0% year-on-year, Kantar said, but Sainsbury's, as has been the case in recent months, bucked the trend, with its sales rising 0.5% in the period. Sainsbury's market share also held firm at 16.8%, flat from a year earlier. It marks the seventh consecutive period of sales growth for the company.
Tesco sales fell 0.8% and its market share dipped to 28.4% from 28.7%, but worse performances were turned in by Asda, owned by US giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc, and Morrisons, which will rejoin its rivals in the FTSE 100 later this month having fallen out of the blue-chip index in 2015.
Asda sales slumped 4.0% in the 12-week period year-on-year, while its market share shrank to 16.2% from 17.0%. The pictured was not much brighter for Morrisons, where sales fell 3.2% year-on-year and its market share fell to 10.6% from 11.0%.
The challenge of the discounters, Aldi and Lidl, continued apace. Aldi sales rose 15% in the period, while Lidl sales increased 19%. The combined market share of the German pair is at 10.0% of the total market, up from 9.8% in the previous month's Kantar report.
Upmarket grocer Waitrose also saw sales edge higher, up 0.2% year-on-year, though its market share remained flat at 5.2%.
Sainsbury's shares were down 0.5% to 269.04 pence early Tuesday, while Tesco shares were down 0.4% to 191.00p. Morrisons shares were down 2.7% to 203.8p, one of the worst performers in the FTSE 250.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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