Sainsbury, Britain’s third-biggest grocer, met forecasts with a pick-up in quarterly sales driven by growth at local convenience stores and online.

The group, which trails Tesco and No. 2 player Wal-Mart’s Asda by annual revenue, said yesterday sales at stores open over a year rose 2.0 per cent, excluding fuel, in the 16 weeks to September 28, its fiscal second quarter.

Sainsbury’s performance was ahead of flat second quarter UK like-for-like sales at Tesco.

Online and smaller local convenience stores are the two fastest growing areas in the grocery sector as shopping habits change. Consumers are increasingly using the internet to shop and high fuel prices are discouraging trips to town centres and out-of-town malls.

Sainsbury’s online grocery sales rose by over 15 per cent in its second quarter, while convenience store sales increased 20 per cent as customers topped up more often during the warm summer weather, the firm said.

Total sales for the second quarter rose 4.6 per cent excluding fuel. Sainsbury’s current grocery market share is at a near decade high of 16.6 per cent, just behind Asda.

According to market researcher Kantar Worldpanel, Sainsbury was the only one of Britain’s “big four” grocers, which also includes No. 4 Morrisons, to increase its market share over the last year.

Shares in Sainsbury’s, up 13 per cent over the last year, closed Tuesday at 390.2 pence, valuing the business at around £7.4 billion.

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