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Tesco and M&S celebrate positive Christmas trading

09 January 2025 By Arabella Mileham

The first trading results from Christmas have been released, with both Tesco and Marks & Spencer reporting positive sales.

M&S

M&S’s chief executive Stuart Machin described it as another good Christmas for M&S, which had built on a strong performance in the prior year. Sales across its food division (which includes the BWS category) increased 8.7%, with life-for-like sales up 8.9%. Growth was sustained in the UK, due to increased customers and transactions, and the retailed flagged that more customers were doing a full shop at M&S, although value continued to be key.

It was the top performing store-based grocery retailer in volume and value over the period, according to Kantar.

New and renewal stores “exceeded expectations”, it said and availability had been improved following supply chain investment – although “increased volumes and associated stock flow challenges led to slightly higher seasonal markdown,” it said

“The external environment remains challenging, with cost and economic headwinds to navigate, but there is much within our control,” Machin said.” Progress has been made and there are lots of opportunities ahead.”

Tesco

Meanwhile Tesco was celebrating its “biggest Christmas ever, with continued market share growth and switching gains”.

The retailer reported volume growth ahead of the market, resulting in its highest market share since 2016, which it said was driven by “further improvement in customer satisfaction”. There was evidence that customers had switched back to Tesco grocery competitors, premium retailers (such as Waitrose and M&S) and the discounters, according to data from Kantar.

As a result, chief executive Ken Murphy said the business was on track to deliver retail adjusted operating profit for the 2024/25 financial year of around £2.9bn, which was in line with the upgraded guidance given in its interim results.

Meanwhile Booker saw core retail growth of +1.3%, with growth of its symbol brands “despite a subdued market backdrop”.

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