Tesco sales grow 2.6 pct, discounters continue to outpace-Kantar Worldpanel

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest grocer Tesco (Swiss: TSCO.SW - news) was the top performer of the country's four largest supermarket groups over the past 12 weeks, posting growth of 2.6 percent, although all four 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 no.2 player Sainsbury (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 's lagged slightly with 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 four bigger players.

Grocery inflation stood at 3.6 percent for the period, Kantar said. (Reporting by Sarah Young and James Davey, Editing by Paul Sandle)