Sainsbury's posts Q3 sales growth - graduate jobs

Graduates hoping to enter the retail sector will be interested to learn that supermarket chain Sainsbury's has posted better-than-expected sales growth in the third quarter.

The grocery retailer saw like-for-like sales increase by 3.6% in the 14 weeks to January 8, no doubt helped by record trading in the week up to Christmas which saw 24.5 million transactions.

It also created 6,000 jobs following its record-breaking store space expansion of 700,000 sq ft during the quarter.

The performance figure, which excludes fuel and includes VAT, overshadows rival Morrison's modest 1% same-store growth, and is expected to put pressure on industry leader Tesco, which will give its Christmas trading update this week.

The announcement marks a mixed run for UK retailers as it follows reports of sales slumps over the Christmas period by high street chains HMV, Next and Debenhams.

It follows a more resurgent period for the group, which has seen sales growth accelerate throughout 2010.

Sainsbury's chief executive, Justin King, hailed the supermarket's "best ever Christmas".

He said: "This record Christmas was delivered despite challenging weather conditions and our colleagues worked extremely hard to deliver great service to our customers, serving more than 24.5 million customers in the seven days up to and including Christmas Eve."