Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

* UK grocery sales up 10.6% in 4 weeks to Oct. 4
* Britons eat and drink at home more
* "Limited evidence" of stockpiling
* Morrisons is best performer of "big four"

(Adds details, table)
By James Davey
LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - British grocery sales growth
accelerated in September as shoppers geared up for new
restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19, though there was
"limited evidence" of a new wave of stockpiling, industry data
showed on Tuesday.
Market researcher Kantar said sales rose 10.6% year-on-year
in the four weeks to Oct. 4 as shoppers moved a greater
proportion of their eating and drinking back into the home.
"This is likely a response to rising COVID-19 infection
rates, greater restrictions on opening hours in the hospitality
sector, and the end of the government’s 'Eat Out to Help Out'
scheme," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer
insight at Kantar.
He noted that alcohol sales alone were worth 261 million
pounds ($340 million) more to the grocers this month than the
same month last year, with pubs, bars and restaurants now
subject to a 10pm curfew.
But he said there was only limited evidence of consumers
stockpiling goods at a national level.
The seven days to Sept. 27 were the busiest since March,
with 107 million trips to supermarkets recorded, but that number
was nowhere near the 175 million seen just prior to the first
national lockdown.
That said, sales of toilet rolls and flour rose by 64% and
73% during the week, showing that consumers were wary of
potential new restrictions.
Last month, market leader Tesco and No. 4 player
Morrisons both reintroduced purchase limits on some
products.
Morrisons was the best performer of the country's so called
"big four" supermarkets, with sales up 11.5% over the 12 weeks
to Oct. 4.
Sales rose 9.2% at Tesco and were up 6.8% at Sainsbury's
and 5.4% at Asda.
Sales at online grocer Ocado, which started
delivering Marks & Spencer products on Sept. 1, were up
41.9%.

Market share and sales growth (%)
12 wks to 12 wks to pct change
Oct. 4 2020 Oct. 6 2019 in sales
Tesco 26.9 26.9 9.2
Sainsbury's 14.9 15.3 6.8
Asda 14.4 15.0 5.4
Morrisons 10.1 9.9 11.5
Aldi 8.0 8.1 7.8
Co-operative 6.6 6.6 9.3
Lidl 6.1 6.0 11.7
Waitrose 5.0 5.0 8.9
Iceland 2.3 2.2 17.3
Ocado 1.8 1.4 41.9
Source: Kantar

($1 = 0.7677 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young and Mark
Potter)