Bosses hailed this a success, because it was the first set of results since it sold off its convenience stores estate, meaning the comparisons were likely to be tough, but also a sign chief executive David Potts is improving the business.
But the winner of the Big Four supermarkets was Sainsbury’s, which saw a rise of 1.2% at Kantar and 0.5% at Nielsen, as it gears up for Christmas and typically sees shoppers from other stores trade up to Sainsbury’s.
Lidl and Aldi continued their growth, up 17.9% and 15.4% at Kantar and 19.8% and 24.4% at Nielsen.
The supermarket price war heated up, with grocery inflation at minus 1.9%.
Prices fell faster than last month, due particularly to cuts in eggs, butter, bread, crisps and fresh poultry.
