"We have made good progress in our third quarter against the background of challenging conditions for consumers in many of our markets.
In the UK, our increased investment in the shopping trip for customers is starting to deliver. The Big Price Drop campaign, now in its second phase, has lowered prices significantly for hard-pressed families and we are now being rewarded with stronger food volume growth. We are also seeing positive customer reaction to the improvements in our general merchandise ranges. Whilst I am pleased with these early signs of stronger performance, a great deal more remains to be done and we are confident of delivering further improvements as we implement our plans.
Overall, we saw good growth internationally despite some of our markets in Asia being affected by difficult trading conditions. In particular, the disruption in Thailand caused by the flooding interrupted an otherwise strong sales trend and the response of our team there to the crisis has been outstanding - both for customers and for our staff. Elsewhere, both Central Europe and Fresh & Easy delivered further pleasing performances."
