The latest UK Grocery data from market researcher Kantar shows the established players as the winners in the Supermarket Sweep, according to Aussie broker Macquarie.
The Aussie finance house’s reading of the runes led it to declare Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO), J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) and Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) are on the up,
Wal-Mart Stores-owned Asda and the hard discounters were the losers, showing a deteriorating trend, with sales growth rates slowing to their lowest levels since 2011, according to the market researcher’s findings over a 12-week period to 6 November.
Macquarie noted that Asda “improved pricing meaningfully” in the October/November period, but, as back in March/April, this seems to have been the result of reductions on high-priced, or big-ticket items.
“This should allay fears of Asda unleashing massive price cuts,” the Macquarie team asserted.
Macquarie reiterated its ‘outperform’ rating on Tesco, with its confidence bolstered by the “substantial ongoing sales recovery”.