UK supermarket chain says Christmas sales up

LONDON - Christmas sales at Asda, the British supermarket chain owned by US giant Wal-Mart, grew more than the 2.8 per cent rise reported by rival William Morrison , the company said yesterday.

A spokeswoman declined to disclose exact sales figures, but confirmed that its growth was better than the underlying rise of 2.8 per cent announced by Morrison last week.

Saturday's Daily Mail newspaper quoted Andy Bond, new Asda chief executive, as saying: "Christmas for food retailers generally has been better than other sectors. We didn't have a great Christmas ... but it wasn't as bad as people thought we would be."

The report said analysts had expected Asda's sales to be flat to up 2 per cent.

Rival J. Sainsbury Plc reported underlying sales growth over the key Christmas period of 5.2 per cent and market leader Tesco Plc is expected to report growth of 5-6 per cent next week.

- REUTERS