Sainsbury's , Britain's second biggest supermarket group, on Friday reported a 2.8% rise in underlying sales for the key Christmas quarter, with robust grocery sales offset by a weaker performance in general merchandise.

The UK's second-largest grocery chain, trailing only Tesco, reported robust sales over the festive period, with party food and bottles of fizz in high demand

Sainsbury's, Britain's second biggest supermarket group, on Friday reported a 2.8% rise in underlying sales for the key Christmas quarter, with solid grocery sales offset by a weaker performance in general merchandise.

Sales were up in its third quarter and over the Christmas season for British supermarket chain Tesco compared to the same period of the previous year. Tesco reported on Thursday that its third quarter retail like-for-like sales excluding value-added tax (VAT) and fuel increased by 2.