Tesco reports higher sales in Asia as Sainsbury's creates 500 jobs

Tesco has boosted sales in South Korea, China and India as the supermarket chain continues its expansion overseas. The group generates 31% of sales and 22% of profits from international operations, compared with 10% and 5% respectively 10 years ago. In South Korea, which is Tesco's biggest market outside the UK, like-for-like sales growth in the nine weeks to 31 October accelerated to 6.7%, against 6% in the previous quarter. Asia and Europe director Philip Clarke, who will replace Sir Terry Leahy as chief executive in March, described Tesco's international arm as an "increasingly important engine for growth". Meanwhile, Sainsbury's announced plans to recruit 500 extra staff for its food counters and cafes over the next year. The chain is also opening six food colleges to provide training in areas such as food preparation skills, product knowledge and customer service. It expects more than 8,500 staff a year will spend at least a day at the colleges, which are situated within existing stores in Edinburgh, Bradford, Oldbury, St Albans and Hempstead Valley in Kent. The supermarket said the 500 jobs were being created in response to increased demand from customers for food from its fresh meat, fish and delicatessen counters, as well as its own store expansion plans. Customer service director Gwyn Burr said: "We believe that the skills that our colleagues will learn and develop at the colleges will play a big part in our future success."