Tesco Ireland's sales in ROI has grown by 3% over the last three months.
The retailer delivered like-for-like sales growth for a tenth consecutive quarter, according to its first-quarter trading statement for the 13 weeks ended 26 May 2018.
The retail group's like-for-like sales growth improved to 1.8% and its UK & ROI to 3.5%.
“Our growth plans are on track and we are pleased with the momentum in the business. We remain well-placed to serve our customers better and deliver on our medium-term financial ambitions,” said Dave Lewis, chief executive, Tesco.
The report indicated that the like-for-like sales increase in the ROI was due to the fact that customers continued to react positively to its more competitive price position, despite it 'experiencing store closures across our entire estate for one day, as a result of adverse weather conditions in early March'.
Tesco UK
Tesco UK like-for-like sales were up 2.1%, the report showed.
Performance improved through the quarter (after taking the timing of Easter into account), recovering from the impact of adverse weather conditions experienced in March.
“We continue to focus on improving our customer offer and are now more than a quarter of the way through our re-launch of over 10,000 own brand products,” the retailer said in a statement.
“In addition, at the end of the quarter, we invested in a number of price cuts focused on our exclusive fresh food brands to offer even better value for our customers.”
Tesco Direct Closure
During the quarter, the retailer said that it took an important decision to refocus its non-food business by closing Tesco Direct, which will cease trading on 9 July 2018.
It highlighted that looking ahead, its like-for-like sales performance for the UK will be adjusted to remove the impact of the closure of Tesco Direct from July onwards.
Irelands Leading Supermarket
Tesco has reclaimed the top spot as Irelands leading supermarket for the first time in more than two years with an overall market share of 22.3%.
The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published in early June for the 12 weeks ending 20 May 2018 showed that the retailer grew sales by 4.5% – far ahead of the overall market, which saw growth of 2.8%.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
