Sainsbury was top UK grocer over Easter - Nielsen

LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - J Sainsbury (SBRY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) was the
fastest growing of the big four British supermarket groups over
Easter, market researchers Nielsen said on Tuesday, supporting
similar findings in a survey by TNS WorldPanel. [ID:nLS649126]

The data also show Tesco (TSCO.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Britain's biggest
supermarket chain, closing the gap on its main rivals and Wm
Morrison (MRW.L: Quote, Profile, Research), until recently the fastest growing of the big
four, slipping into fourth place.

Sainsbury achieved sales growth of 14.7 percent in the four
weeks to April 18 compared with the same time last year,
followed by Asda (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on 13.7 percent, Tesco on 9.9 percent
and Morrison on 9.8 percent, Nielsen said.

"This growth can be attributed to shoppers trading up for the
holiday period but also to the strong in store offers and price
cuts that attracted new shoppers into Sainsbury for their Easter
shopping," said Mike Watkins, senior manager retailer services
at Nielsen, of Sainsbury's performance.

Sales growth at all grocery multiples was 10.5 percent.

Following is a summary of Nielsen's findings for the 12
weeks to April 18:

% Share of total grocery

market spend

12 wks to 12 wks to Value sales

19/04/08 18/04/09 pct change y/y
Tesco 28.1 27.9 4.6
Asda 15.2 15.6 7.9
Sainsbury 14.6 14.9 7.5
Morrison 10.4 10.6 7.4
Co-Op 6.2 6.0 2.8
Waitrose 3.6 3.5 3.3
M&S 3.8 3.7 4.2
Somerfield 3.6 3.3 -1.6
Iceland 1.6 1.8 15.3

(Reporting by Mark Potter; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)