Tesco says UK Q3 like-for-like sales up 2.0 pct

Tesco Plc, Britain's biggest retailer, posted a 2.0 percent rise in underlying third-quarter UK sales and said new "Discounter" products had drawn an extra 300,000 customers a week to its UK stores.

"By giving customers more affordable choices, we have deflated our sales during the quarter by between two and three percentage points," Tesco said in a statement on Tuesday.

The supermarket group, which employs 440,000 people in about 4,000 stores across 14 countries, said total sales rose 11.7 percent in the 13 weeks to Nov. 22, including a 28.1 percent rise in sales from its international businesses.

Analysts had on average forecast a 1.9 percent rise in UK like-for-like sales excluding fuel, according to a Reuters poll of 13 banks and brokerages, with estimates ranging from 1.1 percent to 2.5 percent.