Tesco announces rising sales during key trading period

LONDON: Supermarket chain Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, announced Thursday rising sales during the festive period, which followed a strong third quarter.

"In the UK, we saw our eighth consecutive quarter of... growth and delivered a third successful Christmas," chief executive Dave Lewis said in a trading update.

"Internationally, we have continued to focus on improving our offer for customers in challenging market conditions."

Total group sales jumped 6.5 percent during Tesco's third quarter to the end of November compared with a year earlier. In the following six weeks, sales grew by 4.3 percernt.