Supermarket Tesco has seen a third consecutive quarter of sales growth, raising the company’s share price as analysts hailed the recovery of the company from its “crisis period”.

In the first half, Tesco saw UK like-for-like sales growth of 0.6% and group like-for-like sales growth of 1% in a competitive marketplace. This was boosted by a push to rebuild trust in the brand, with figures showing that its brand health was at its highest level in over four years.

The company added that it was on-track to deliver £1/2 billion in group operating profit before exceptional items for the year.

Dave Lewis, chief executive, commented:  "We have made further strong progress in the first half, with positive like-for-like sales growth across all parts of the Group as we re-invest in our customer offer whilst rebuilding profitability in a sustainable way.

“The entire Tesco team is focused on serving shoppers a little better every day. We are more competitive across our offer.  Prices are more than 6% lower than two years ago, availability and service have never been better and our range is more compelling.  Our new fresh food brands are performing ahead of expectations, improving our value proposition and further removing reasons for customers to shop elsewhere.

“Whilst the market is uncertain, we have made significant progress against the priorities we set out two years ago, stabilising the business and positioning us well for the future.  Today, we are sharing the plans we have in place to become even more competitive for our customers, even simpler for colleagues and an even better partner for our suppliers, whilst creating long-term, sustainable value for our shareholders.”