Supermarket Tesco enjoys Christmas sales leap

Tesco has emerged as a festive winner after reporting a steep rise in sales over the critical Christmas trading period.

The supermarket giant said UK like-for-like seasonal sales rose by 1.9%, driven by a strong grocery performance.

This helped Tesco notch up a 2.3% rise in third quarter comparable sales.

The figures are a further indication that Tesco's turnaround under chief executive Dave Lewis is firmly on track.

Mr Lewis said: "We have continued to outperform the market throughout this period, particularly in fresh food, thanks to our most competitive offer for many years.

"Our trading momentum accelerated across the third quarter and into December, with the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day delivering record sales and volumes in the UK."

Tesco saw its biggest ever sales week in the UK over Christmas, with 58 million customer transactions and 770,000 online grocery deliveries in one week.