Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, achieved another milestone yesterday by reporting sales of more than $100 billion (£51.2 billion) for a three-month period for the first time.

The group defied the economic gloom in the United States and said that its renewed focus, over the past year, on winning back its core, low-income customer base through big price-cutting campaigns was paying off.

Underlying profit across the business, which runs stores in 15 countries, including Asda in Britain, rose by 4 per cent to $4.1 billion in the three months to January 31. Total sales in the quarter rose by 8.3 per cent to a record $106.27 billion — more revenue than Tesco makes in a year and equivalent to $48 million an hour.

Lee Scott, the president and chief executive of Wal-Mart, said: “We had a very strong underlying performance, exceeding our expectations for the quarter. The price leadership strategy we put in place at the beginning of the year was exactly the right strategy for our consumers around the world in a tough economic environment.”

Wal-Mart added that Asda had beaten both its profit and sales targets for the financial year as a whole and had been the “big winner” in the UK, despite Wm Morrison’s resurgence in the run-up to Christmas.

Asda, which is expected to outline a store opening programme today, generated like-for-like sales in the “mid-single digits” in the 12 months to January 31.

Mike Duke, the vice-president of Wal-Mart, said: “Asda has now added two million customers and 50 basis points [0.5 per cent] of market share since the start of 2006.”

Yesterday’s results mark Wal-Mart’s recovery from a turbulent 2006, when a move away from its value roots and into more upmarket clothing and homeware backfired.

However, Wal-Mart has initiated a series of aggressive price moves since August on products such as toys and flat-screen televisions. It has also introduced beers, wine and spirits into its American discount stores, which traditionally carry few food and drink lines.

Analysts also believe that the US Government’s recent $150 billion rescue package in the wake of the credit crunch will directly benefit retailers such as Wal-Mart.

Joseph Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said yesterday: “Wal-Mart is perfectly positioned for this type of [economic] environment. They’ve got a lot of consumable items, like groceries, so they’re going to drive traffic and maybe even get additional traffic because of this environment.”

Mr Scott said that he remained cautious about the coming year, given the economic climate and inflationary pressure, but said that like-for-like sales in the United States should remain positive for the rest of 2008.

Andy Bond, the chief executive of Asda, said the British chain had enjoyed a vintage year in 2007. He reiterated that Asda would try to keep a lid on price inflation by taking out costs and he said that he expected suppliers to do the same. “Together we must ensure we make it as easy as possible for hard-pressed shoppers to make ends meet,” Mr Bond said.

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