Walmart’s Leeds-based subsidiary Asda — currently preparing to be taken over by Sainsbury’s — has reported a fifth quarter of positive growth in the period from April 1 to June 30, 2018.

The supermarket reported a 0.4% increase in like-for-like sales.

Removing the impact of Easter, like-for-like sales in the quarter grew by 2.6%.

“The supermarket improved versus the market in 2018 with a 12.5% market share of total grocery sales according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel release,” said Walmart.

Asda CEO Roger Burnley said: “Our Q2 performance shows continued momentum for 2018 and this is the first quarter we have outperformed the market since 2014.

“We remain focussed on delivering our strategic priorities and investing in the areas that matter most to our customers – innovation in our own brand, lowering prices and in continuously improving our shopping experience both in store and online.

“We welcomed an additional 285,000 customers to our stores over the quarter and grew online sales by 13.2% – and I am grateful to our colleagues for all their hard work.

“Whilst we’ll never be complacent I am pleased that we continue to work hard to do the right things for our customers, and are focused on providing the best possible shopping experience as we head into the second half of the year.”