Tesco sales affected by snow

Britain's biggest retailer revealed its UK growth had speeded up since the first half, when like-for-like sales excluding petrol increased by 1.2 per cent.

Heavy snow hit trading in some parts of the country, particularly Scotland, where many customers were not able to travel to stores, but Tesco said it hoped to recover the lost sales in the weeks before Christmas.

Finance director Laurie McIlwee said its stores had generally held up well under the Arctic conditions, but admitted there had been an impact on trading.

Tesco sent out its delivery lorries three hours earlier every day to give them more time to get to stores through the icy conditions and it used 150 specially adapted quad bikes to clear snow from supermarket car parks.

The snow had forced some customers to walk to their local shops rather than drive to a supermarket although this also benefited Tesco Express stores, he added.

Aside from disruption caused by the cold snap, Tesco hailed the benefits of a slow and steady recovery in the UK economy, which had helped to boost its sales.

"Like-for-like sales in the UK will get more positive," said Mr McIlwee. "There's a good, steady, slow recovery going on in the UK. It's hard to call what the fourth quarter will be like, but it will be an improvement in like-for-like sales and we still feel there's good growth for us in the UK."

Mr McIlwee said its improved UK performance had been achieved despite a reduction in food inflation over the quarter, with prices rising by around 0.7 per cent.

Tesco is gearing up for its biggest ever Christmas with Kate Middleton-style dresses, Xbox Kinect games and iPads already proving popular and helping early festive sales exceed its expectations.

Group sales increased by 8.8 per cent in the third quarter to November 27, led by 23.4 per cent growth in its supermarkets in Asia.