Tesco yesterday said that sluggish performance from competitors had helped it to seize the initiative over Christmas as it reported a 7.6 per cent rise in British like-for-like sales over the crucial festive season. The company refuses to break out figures for its Irish operations.

Mr Andrew Higginson, finance director of Britain's largest supermarket operator, said the performance was better than he had been expecting.

"A normal year would be 3-4 per cent [ underlying sales growth]. This isn't normal. Obviously we think we have done well - our offer has been good and we have been getting good growth, and there is the context of competitors: Morrison is dealing with Safeway, Sainsbury has a new management team and that has helped us a bit."

The bumper Christmas meant that Tesco was on track to deliver profits in line with the market consensus of £2.02 billion in the year to February 28th.

"That would represent over 20 per cent profit growth for this year, and that is a fantastic achievement," he said. The result - against poor performances from rivals - garnered praise from analysts.

"By any stretch of the imagination these results are at the top of the league in terms of the group's peer group in the UK and internationally," said Mr Clive Black, analyst at Shore Capital.

However, Tesco saw deflation of 1.6 per cent in British stores as it invested in price cuts.

It had made price cuts of about £219 million in the past 12 months, after adding £80 million in cuts on December 31st. Internationally, Tesco's sales grew 16.1 per cent over the Christmas and new year period, which was seen by analysts as disappointing. - (Financial Times Service)