Tesco's growth eats into market share of rivals

Supermarket leader Tesco has passed through the 27 per cent market share figure for the first time, according to latest data from Taylor Nelson Sofres.

Tesco's share has increased to an all-time high and its level of growth was more than that of its rivals combined.

CitigroupSmithBarney analyst Dave McCarthy highlighted Tesco's performance in a note.

He said: 'Tesco was the best performer this month, adding over 10 per cent growth. In cash terms, Tesco's performance is even more impressive.

Compared with this time last year, Tesco added over£133 million of sales, more than the rest of industry added together.

'This data suggests that Tesco's like-for-like sales are remaining strong and that it is winning share from most, if not all, of its major competitors.'

Tesco's share increased from 25.7 to 27.2 per cent, according to data for the four weeks to June 22 and compared with the equivalent period a year ago. Over the same period, Sainsbury's share fell by 1.3 percentage points to 16.7 per cent.

Asda continued to close the gap, increasing its share by 0.6 percentage points to 16.2 per cent.

Like Tesco and Asda, Morrison's strong growth continued. Its share rose from 6 per cent to 6.3 per cent in the last 12 months.

But up-for-sale Safeway saw its share decrease from 10.3 per cent to 9.5 per cent. Somerfield, Kwik Save and Iceland shares all slipped to stand at 5.5 per cent, 3.3 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.