Tesco Asia sales soared 7.3 per cent in actual rates in the May quarter, driven largely by Bangkok.

Announcing a solid first-quarter result for the UK-headquartered grocery company, CEO Dave Lewis said global group sales rose 2.6 per cent quarter on quarter, despite a subdued UK grocery market.

But Asia – where Tesco has hypermarkets and grocery stores in Thailand and Malaysia – outperformed the UK.

“We saw an increase in market share in Thailand driven by strong growth in the Bangkok area.”

Lewis said Tesco has had a strong start to the year, growing faster than the market in its UK home base on both volume and value, by 0.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.

“Our customer offer is more competitive than ever, with a wider choice of our ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ products now available in more stores, helping to drive more than 10 per cent sales growth across the range.”

UK online grocery sales were up 7 per cent year-on-year, with the proportion of customers choosing to Click & Collect their orders increasing to over 10 per cent.