Morrisons has emerged as the leading UK grocer this Christmas for the four weeks to December 30, according to TNS Worldpanel grocery market share figures.

The Bradford-based grocer, which has real momentum under chief executive Marc Bolland, increased its market share to 11.4 per cent – up from 11 per cent a year ago, powered by a year-on-year growth of 9.3 per cent over the period.

Among the other members of the big four, Sainsbury’s was the worst performer, with its sales growth slipping to 4.7 per cent. Tesco registered a sales increase of 5.3 per cent, while Asda’s sales growth was 5.2 per cent over the four weeks.

Blue Oar Securities analyst Greg Lawless said: “Morrisons continues to grow, at 10 per cent year-on-year – we think like-for-likes will be circa 6 per cent.” Sainsbury’s reports on festive trading tomorrow, as does Tesco on January 15 and Morrisons on January 22.

TNS Worldpanel research director Edward Garner said: “Growth rates for Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s effectively match the market figure of 5 per cent year-on-year, producing only marginal share changes.” After Morrisons, Aldi and Iceland were the strongest performers, with 8.1 per cent growth and 7.4 per cent growth respectively.

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