Somerfield sales push ahead
Sales up despite tough summer
Somerfield has held its own in a tough market for many UK food retailers, despite a sales decline in the disappointing summer months.
In a first quarter trading update, Somerfield reported group like-for-like sales up by 1.1 per cent across the 16 weeks to August 14.
There was a 1.3 per cent like-for-like increase in the Somerfield chain, and 1 per cent in Kwik-Save, “despite the effects of weak sales for July and August in the food retail sector”.
The overall rise for Somerfield stores was helped by the store refit programme, but like-for-like sales declined 0.8 per cent over the last two months of the quarter.
The company said sales of seasonal lines, such as ice cream, beers, soft drinks and barbecue lines declined substantially compared to last year’s hot summer, but have returned to normal over recent weeks.
[img r]kwiksavewales.jpg[/img]The Kwik Save chain saw a similar seasonal sales downturn, with like-for-like sales in the last two months of the quarter down by 1 per cent.
