Fresh & Easy Posts 9.8% Comps

SN STAFF

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Tesco, the London-based parent company of Fresh & Easy Fresh Market here, said U.S. sales for the third fiscal quarter rose 38.5% over year-ago levels, "with a particularly successful Thanksgiving holiday period."

Fresh & Easy was operating approximately 150 stores at the end of the third quarter this year, which ended Nov. 27, compared with approximately 125 a year earlier.

Tesco also said comparable-store sales during the quarter "remained strong" at 9.8%, driven primarily by increased customer counts.

Writing in advance of publication of the financial results, Fraser Ramzan, an analyst with Nomura International, said any acceleration in Fresh & Easy comps "would evidence [Tesco's] growing confidence in Fresh & Easy and continue the gradual process of turning sentiment on the problematic U.S. operation."