Sainsbury's Christmas sales beat expectations

Sainsbury’s set the bar for supermarket trading over Christmas today as it posted better-than-expected sales growth in the third quarter.

The UK group, which has overtaken Asda to become the second-biggest supermarket in the UK, according to reports, delivered 3.6% like-for-like sales growth in the 14 weeks to January 8 after overcoming last month’s severe weather.