Sales in Tesco's core UK market rose 3.5 per cent in the first quarter, the company announced this morning. The figure was marginally lower than at the start of the year as clothing and furniture sales were hit by a consumer squeeze.
Group sales at the world's third largest food retailer rose 13.7 per cent in the quarter.
As is common practice with Tesco, no figures were given for its Irish division - Tesco Ireland's figures are included as part of the retailer's international business. That grew by 26.6 per cent .
Finance and Strategy Director Andrew Higginson said growth in the core UK market was a "very good solid number", although it slowed from 4 per cent growth in the first 5 weeks of the
year.
Tesco has forecast 3 to 4 per cent growth for the full-year."Clearly the consumer is squeezed and it is being very cautious," Higginson told reporters.
"We are seeing non-food growing less than food for the first time in a long time. Some of the big ticket items, like furniture, are a bit slower than we would have liked," he said. It said in a statement that although food growth in its core UK market had been good, "our rate of growth in non-food has eased as consumers have become more cautious with their spending during recent months".
Tesco is Britain' largest retailer with a market share equal to a third of the grocery sector,
more than double the size of the market share of its nearest competitors Asda and J.
Sainsbury combined.
International sales growth was boosted by the strong euro. When this was stripped out, growth was 13.9 per cent. There was particularly strong growth of 32.4 per cent in Europe, with 16.7 cent growth in Asia.