Tesco sales up 2.6 pct, discounters outperform-Kantar Worldpanel

(Adds table)

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) was the top

performer of Britain's four largest supermarket groups over the

past 12 weeks, posting sales growth of 2.6 percent, although all

four again lost market share to discount chains Aldi

and Lidl.

Asda, owned by Walmart, grew sales by 2.2 percent in

the period to Jan. 29, data from research group Kantar

Worldpanel showed, with Morrisons also on 2.2 percent,

while Sainsbury (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 's saw a 1.5 percent rise.

Growth at Aldi and Lidl came in at 16.2 percent and 16.3

percent respectively, boosting their respective market shares to

6.9 percent and 5 percent at the cost of the top four players.

Healthy eating helped drive the sales growth, Kantar said,

as consumers switched to vegetarian and vegan meals and bought

more spinach, cherries and aubergines.

Grocery inflation stood at 3.6 percent for the period,

Kantar said.

Market share and sales growth (percent)

12 wks to 12 wks to pct change

Jan. 28.

Jan. 29 2017 in sales

2018

Tesco 27.8 pct 28.1 pct 2.6 pct

Sainsbury's 16.2 pct 16.5 pct 1.5 pct

Asda 15.4 pct 15.6 pct 2.2 pct

Morrisons 10.7 pct 10.9 pct 2.2 pct

Aldi 6.9 pct 6.2 pct 16.2 pct

Co-Operative 5.8 pct 6.0 pct -0.1 pct

Lidl 5.0 pct 4.5 pct 16.3 pct

Waitrose 5.2 pct 5.3 pct 1.5 pct

Iceland 2.3 pct 2.3 pct 1.6 pct

Ocado 1.3 pct 1.3 pct 7.8 pct

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

(Reporting by Sarah Young and James Davey; Editing by Paul

Sandle and Mark Potter)