A golden performance for Sainsbury's sales

The grocer Sainsbury's struck "Paralympic gold" after its sponsorship of the event helped its sales sprint ahead, but rival Morrisons suffered its worst performance for around seven years.

Sainsbury's grew sales by 7.9 per cent over the four weeks to 30 September, according to the Kantar Worldpanel data.

Edward Garner, a director at Kantar, said Sainsbury's benefited from its high-profile sponsorship of – and advertising campaign around – the Paralympics. plus its Brand Match promotion and the ongoing relaunch of its own label range.

But Morrisons posted a calamitous 1.9 per cent fall in revenues, understood to be its first decline since 2005.

Tesco grew sales by 2.2 per cent and Asda's rose 4.2 per cent, while Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose also performed well.

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