London- Asda Group (AGP.YY) retained its No. 2 spot in the U.K. grocery market with a market share of 16.3% for the 12 weeks to April 23, 2006 while market leader Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN) saw its portion rise to 30.8% from 30.6% a month earlier, according to Taylor Nelson Sofres World Panel market share data released Thursday.
J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) remained in third spot with an unchanged market share of 16% in the 12 weeks to April 23 from a month earlier, and compared with 15.8% in the same period a year earlier, according to TNS. Tesco's market share one year earlier had been 29.6% while Asda's was 16.4%, it added.
Asda is a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Store of the United States.
TNS monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 20,000 demographically representative households in the U.K.