The supermarket sector continued to show growth in the last three months, with Tesco (LON:TSCO) and Morrisons (LON:MRW) leading the way and Sainsbury’s lagging behind.

The latest grocery market share figures out today from Kantar Worldpanel showed Tesco grow by more than 2 percent for the 12th consecutive period, in its best set of performances since 2011. CEO Dave Lewis’s turnaround strategy seems to be coming into its own, with overall market share at 27.6 per cent for the 12 weeks to 22 April 2018.

Sainsbury’s however, the subject of much discussion over the weekend due to its confirmed merger with Asda, saw sales rise just 0.2 percent over the same period. It currently holds a market share of 15.9 percent, with Asda taking a further 15.5 percent. Should the merger come to fruition, the combined group looks set to overtake Tesco as the UK’s biggest supermarket by market share.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said:

“This is a pivotal moment for the British grocery market. A merger between Sainsbury’s and Asda would transform the traditional landscape placing nearly a third of market share in the hands of the joint supermarket giant, though the march of the discounters – and any enforced store closures – could impact this figure.”

Over the period the British grocery market actually grew at its slowest rate since March last year, with Lidl recording the best results of the quarter. It saw sales rise 9.1 percent, with market share up 5.4 percent.