# Tesco hails highest market share for more than a decade as festive sales rise

By Aarin Chiekrie — 2026-01-08

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Tesco continued to deliver for shoppers and investors alike this festive season, scooping up market share and increasing consumer satisfaction scores in an extremely competitive market.

“However, performance at its wholesale business, Booker, wasn’t as good as hoped due to the long-running decline in tobacco sales.

“The net effect was that Tesco only nudged its full-year underlying operating profit guidance to the top end of its current £2.9-3.1bn range, while many had been hoping for a bigger upgrade.

“Tesco looks well-positioned to continue weathering macroeconomic headwinds and soft consumer sentiment.

“Its enormous scale and strong relationships with suppliers are a key ingredient to its success story.

“It gives Tesco the leverage to negotiate hard on prices and keep costs down for shoppers, giving them little reason to look elsewhere.

“Things like Clubcard Prices and the Aldi Price Match are doing their job in keeping customers loyal too.

“At the other end of the price scale, an expanded Tesco Finest once again delivered double-digit sales growth as it continues to help the group poach customers from more premium supermarkets.

“Tesco continues to execute well despite the recent challenges, such as rising labour and national insurance costs.

“The group’s moving with the times by leveraging AI to enhance its tech and logistics, enabling it to deliver more than 100,000 online delivery slots to customers in the week leading up to Christmas.

“There’s plenty of cash pumping around the business to fund this investment for the future, as well as cover the current 3.4 per cent forward dividend yield.

“For investors looking for a long-term buy-and-hold, Tesco should certainly make it onto the potential shopping list.”

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