Tesco sales drop 1.6 in key Christmas period

(MENAFN- AFP) Supermarket Tesco said on Thursday that group sales slid around the all-important Christmas trading period, dealing a fresh blow to Britain's biggest retailer.Tesco said sales at stores open more than a year dropped by 3.2 percent in the six weeks to January 4 from the figure for the equivalent period one year earlier, as it continued to suffer from tough conditions at home and abroad.Sales across all of its stores dropped 1.6 percent in the reporting period, the company said in a trading statement.Tesco added that it expected annual trading profit to come in lower compared with 2012/13.Chief executive Philip Clarke noted that "further weakness in the grocery market as a whole continued to impact" Tesco's performance in its main market Britain."Our overseas performance has improved since the third quarter, driven by an improving trend in Europe. This is despite continuing external challenges, including the recent political disruption in Thailand," he added.