Tesco sales up 2.6 percent, discounters outperform - Kantar Worldpanel

LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco 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'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.

(Reporting by Sarah Young and James Davey; Editing by Paul Sandle and Mark Potter)