Tesco and Marks & Spencer emerge as Christmas winners

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Tesco and Marks & Spencer were both Christmas winners with unexpectedly strong sales helped by growth in online orders and high demand for festive treats.

Article originally published by The Guardian. Hargreaves Lansdown is not responsible for its content or accuracy and may not share the author's views. News and research are not personal recommendations to deal. All investments can fall in value so you could get back less than you invest.

Published by

11 Jan 2024

The UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, upgraded its profits expectations for the year by £50m to £2.75bn as it reported “a stronger trading performance than anticipated” over the festive period.

Sales rose by 6.8% at the group’s UK supermarkets in the four weeks to Christmas helping the whole group, which also has a wholesale business, Booker, and supermarkets in central Europe and Ireland, lifting sales by 6%.

Ken Murphy, the chief executive of Tesco, said: “We stepped up our investment in service over the key festive period, with more colleagues on the shop floor, helping to deliver market-leading availability and making this our best Christmas yet.”

He said sales of the group’s premium own-label Finest range had risen by nearly 17% but it had also drawn in shoppers with thousands of price cuts. Online sales rose by 11.5%, bouncing back from the more difficult period for the online trade