ASDA the supermarket chain owned by Walmart has announced like for like sales growth for its fourth quarter was up 7.2%.
The figure, which excludes petrol, rose from 6.9% in Q3, 6% in Q2 and 5% in Q1.

It also indicates a continued trend of customers trading down to the chain from more up-market supermarkets like Waitrose and Sainsburys.

The announcement puts ASDA ahead of Sainsbury's whose most results shows lfl at 4.5% and Tesco who only had a 2.5% rise.

Last year it launched ASDA Direct with more than 750,000 non-food products, but primarily focusing on the George clothing range.

However, the move saw online sales rocket by more than 40% in 2008.

ASDA president and ceo, Andy Bond, said: "2008 was yet another vintage year for ASDA as we out-performed both our sales and profit plan, and grew our market share to its highest ever level.

"It is thanks to the continued hard work of all of our store and depot colleagues who are dedicated to saving ASDA money, so we can deliver outstanding value and customer service to millions of shoppers across the UK."