Shares in Tesco (LON:TSCO) moved higher on Friday after the U.K. supermarket chain announced that its market share was expanding faster than at any time in the prior two two years.
The market share of Britain’s largest supermarket firm was 27.6% in the twelve weeks to May 12, an increase of 52 basis points versus the year ago period, according to data from research group Kantar.
In a statement, Chief Executive Ken Murphy said Tesco is building momentum through “strong volume growth” that has been boosted by signs of easing cost-of-living pressures.
“[C]ustomers [are] switching to us from other retailers, shopping with us more often and with more in their baskets,” Murphy added, noting the business is “well-positioned” for the coming months.
Like-for-like sales jumped by 3.4% to 15.3 billion pounds in the thirteen weeks to May 25 thanks in part to demand for fresh food and its clothing offerings.
Yet Tesco left its guidance for its current financial year unaltered, saying it expects to post retail adjusted operating profit of at least 2.8 billion pounds and retail free cash flow in a range of 1.4 billion pounds to 1.8 billion pounds.
