Like for like sales in Tesco's non food sector were lifted over the Christmas and New Year period by good growth in clothing, toys and electricals.

The supermarket giant delivered record Christmas sales - group sales increased by 7.5 per cent in the six weeks to January 9th, while in the UK, total sales outperformed the industry as a whole, up 8.3 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Like for like sales (excluding petrol and including VAT) increased by 5.1 per cent in the period, all of which was volume growth. This made it Tesco's strongest Christmas performance in three years.

Online sales were also strong, in both food and non food, with total online sales growth approaching 20 per cent in the six weeks. Tesco Direct had sales growth of over 50 per cent, with a strong performance in toys, TVs, games and entertainment (including digital downloads).

Tesco also continued to make good international progress, with total international sales for the period up 4.1 per cent at constant exchange rates and 2.4 per cent at actual exchange rates.

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"We've delivered a very strong performance over the Christmas and New Year period," said Terry Leahy, Tesco's chief executive. "It was a great Christmas for Tesco customers with an excellent seasonal range in store and online."