Tesco said today UK same-store sales excluding fuel grew 4.5 per cent in the first quarter of its financial year, at the lower end of analysts' expectations.
Tesco, which makes almost 80 per cent of its sales in the UK, said total group sales in the 13 weeks ended May 27th rose 10.4 per cent.
The retailer's trading update comes during the first week of the soccer World Cup, an event that has helped boost sales of television screens in South Korea and eastern Europe.
Tesco disappointed analysts in April with a 4.9 per cent rise in fourth-quarter UK same-store sales, which included a slowdown from a rate of 5.7 per cent over Christmas and 5.5 per cent in the third quarter. But it said at the time that sales were picking up from a slow January and February.
"We are actually very pleased with (the underlying sales performance) in the current climate. Bear in mind this was before this last week's hot weather. It is a pretty solid number," Tesco Finance director Andrew Higginson said.
Britain's biggest supermarket group, with a market share of over 30 per cent, is facing stiff competition from second-placed Asda, owned by US giant Wal-Mart Stores , as well as resurgent third- and fourth-placed J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison.
"We've made a good start to the year across the group. International is showing strong growth and pushing on well with new store development, and the UK has made solid progress on top of two years of exceptional performance," chief executive Terry Leahy said in a statement.
The group is also hoping to get a boost from a Worl Cup fuelled spending boom.
Sales of flat-screen televisions in Tesco's South Korean stores were up sixfold in recent weeks. Sales of LCD televisions in the Czech Republic were up 300 per cent, with beer sales in both the Czech Republic and Hungary up 20 per cent.
"You definitely get a one-off kicker associated with the World Cup, and if England have a good run in it that will also be very helpful," Mr Higginson said.
He added: "The thing after that then, particularly at this time of year of course, is whether the good weather maintains." Warm weather typically leads to higher sales of barbecue foods, beer and other high-margin items. Tesco operates in 12 countries, including Ireland, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Turkey in Europe.
The company's Asian interests are focused on China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.