Snow hits Tesco sales

The UK's biggest supermarket said the heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures particularly hit its non-food offering as customers were unable to travel to their larger stores.

Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive, said: "Our performance remains solid but was hindered in the run up to the important Christmas trading period in the UK by the disruptive effects of the severe winter weather conditions."

Tesco's update for the six weeks to January 8 follows a stronger set of results from rival Sainsbury's, which delivered 3.6 per cent like-for-like sales growth over a longer trading period for the 14 weeks to January 8.

Fourth biggest supermarket chain Morrisons turned in a stronger performance in the six weeks to January 2, with like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT up one per cent.

Tesco maintained its market share in the 12 weeks ending December 26 at 30.5 per cent, according to researcher Kantar Worldpanel.

But according to reports, figures which are not publicly disclosed by Kantar for the four weeks to December 26 revealed Sainsbury's overtook Asda to become the second-biggest supermarket in the UK.

Laurie McIlwee, Tesco's group finance director, said Sainsbury's results were not comparable to Tesco's.

Food sales grew 1.7 per cent on a like-for-like basis over the festive period, whereas non-food sales, which include electrical goods, entertainment and clothing, declined 1.5 per cent.

Mr McIlwee said the group estimates the snow reduced sales by one per cent but did not give a cash figure.

He added: "Most of the impact was in non-food sales - which were negative - and that's because customers could not get to the big out of town stores."