Tesco Asia like-for-like sales continue to decline while the UK-headquartered company repositions its offer – masking a stronger underlying performance for the business.

“We have made good progress in our discussions with suppliers towards a new commercial approach,” explained Tesco CEO Dave Lewis in a quarterly update.

“We also accelerated planned changes to our operating model in Thailand, helping to reduce costs and underpinning our profit recovery.”

Lewis said that despite minor changes to the government-issued welfare cards scheme during the third quarter, Tesco Thailand sales fell by about 1 per cent for the 19-weeks including the key Christmas trading period.

Restructured Thailand store operations have led to reduced costs, underpinning profit recovery at the expense of sales.

Referring to Tesco’s global operations, Lewis added: “We have more to do everywhere but remain bang on track to deliver our plans for the year and as we enter our centenary we are in a strong position.”

The December quarter represented the 12th consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth for Tesco globally, with sales up 2.6 per cent.