Waitrose gains from 'premium Christmas'

WAITROSE gained its biggest share of supermarket sales for more than four years as festive shoppers traded up to make it a "premium" Christmas, figures today revealed.

By The Newsroom

Published 11th Jan 2010, 20:24 BST

Updated 11th Jan 2010, 20:31 BST

The group notched up a 4 per cent share of the grocery sector over the 12 weeks to 27 December, up from 3.6 per cent a year earlier, according to data from market research firm TNS Worldpanel. This was its best performance since August 2005.

The result from the John Lewis Partnership-owned group has stepped up the heat on market leader Tesco, which was due to brings out its festive sales update today. Tesco is also under pressure from rivals Sainsbury's and Morrisons.