Tesco beat analysts’ forecasts for Christmas trading and the company said that it had outperformed the market Toby Melville/ReutersTesco enjoyed its best Christmas sales growth in almost a decade, boasting a performance ahead of City forecasts. Britain’s biggest retailer posted a 2.2 per cent rise in like-for-like sales in its core Tesco business in the UK in the six weeks to January 5, its fourth consecutive annual rise in festive sales. The figure beat a company-compiled analyst forecast range of 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent. Dave Lewis, its chief executive, who has been leading the company’s turnaround for the past four years, said that it had “delivered significant improvements in our competitive offer and this is reflected in a very strong Christmas performance, which was ahead of the market. We have more to do everywhere but remain bang on track to…

Source: The Times January 10, 2019 09:00 UTC