The supermarket chain reiterated its profit target for its fiscal year after reporting sales growth of 3.1% during the Christmas period.

Tesco boss Ken Murphy said the supermarket has celebrated its “biggest ever Christmas” as it reported its highest market share since 2016 driven by further improvement in customer satisfaction.

Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket group, kept its full-year profit outlook on Thursday as it reported a 4.1% rise in underlying UK sales for the key Christmas trading period, winning market share from rivals.

Tesco has maintained its focus on pricing, investing heavily in its Aldi price match to win over customers from its German discount rivals and offering more deals to Tesco Clubcard members

Sainsbury's, Britain's second biggest supermarket group, is on track to deliver full-year profit growth of around 7%, it said on Friday, after robust food sales over the Christmas quarter offset weakness in general merchandise.

Sales were up in its third quarter and over the Christmas season for British supermarket chain Tesco compared to the same period of the previous year. Tesco reported on Thursday that its third quarter retail like-for-like sales excluding value-added tax (VAT) and fuel increased by 2.