Safeway continues to lose share

Published on Friday 30 July 2004 02:18

SALES at Safeway have continued to fall, pulling down the group’s performance and contrasting with rising market share for sector giant Tesco, the latest industry data shows.

The monthly report from market research firm TNS showed on that Safeway, acquired by rival Morrison’s supermarket in March, accounted for 7.6 per cent of UK till receipts in the 12 weeks to 18 July, down from a 7.8 per cent share in June’s survey and 9 per cent during the same period last year.

"No-one we’ve spoken to who met the management on their recent ill-fated post-warning London roadshow can be surprised at this.

"Morrison is going well, but there’s a continuing, very black picture at Safeway," analyst Andrew Fowler of Merrill Lynch wrote in a research note to coinside with the TNS figures.

Turnover for Morrison and Safeway combined was flat year-on-year, but Tesco saw its share of till receipts rise to 28.1 per cent from 26.7 per cent a year ago, and from 27.9 per cent last month, and TNS said its 11 per cent turnover growth was more than double that of Wal-Mart’s Asda chain in cash terms.

"The sales at Sainsbury show a slight increase compared with the decline exhibited in the previous three issues of this report, but the share nevertheless continues to decline year on year from 16.3 per cent to 15.5 per cent," said Edward Garner, communications director of TNS Superpanel, as the news was unveiled.