British retailer Sainsbury (J) Plc (SBRY.L, JSAIY.PK) said its total sales for the third quarter grew 3.9 percent, as well as up 3.3 percent excluding fuel. On a like-for-like basis, quarterly sales climbed 1.5 percent, and it improved by 0.9 percent excluding fuel, which was on top of a very strong Christmas prior year.
According to the company, "The week before Christmas was our strongest trading week ever, with customer transactions exceeding 27 million. We saw a record breaking £16 million of sales in one hour between 12pm and 1pm on Sunday 23rd December and experienced our best ever Christmas Eve, at both our supermarket and convenience stores, with over £100 million of sales."
Sainsbury expects the challenging economic backdrop to persist, with customers looking to re-balance their household budget after the festivities and so spending cautiously in the first few months of 2013.
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