Asda wins in crunch as sales leap

Asda gave further evidence today that it will emerge as one of the winners from the credit crunch, reporting a hefty jump in sales.

The supermarkets group said like-for-like sales in the third quarter of the year jump 6.9%. This result easily tops the figures from Tesco and J Sainsbury, which yesterday unveiled a 3.9% rise over the same period.

Asda reckons it is benefiting as ever-more affluent shoppers feel the pinch and go in search of better value. It has more than 350 stores in the UK.

Asda's US parent Wal-Mart is also steamrollering forward - in the last three months it made a 10% rise in profit of $3.14 billion (£2.1 billion) on sales of $97.6 billion.

But its profits for the last quarter of the year may be lower than previously thought because of the bounceback by the dollar.