Wesfarmers' Coles Q3 like-for-like sales up 6 pct

MELBOURNE, April 21 (Reuters) - Australian coal-to-groceries conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd (WES.AX) reported a 6 percent rise in food and liquor sales from stores open for at least a year in the third quarter to the end of March.

UBS and Citi analysts had expected comparable store sales growth of 4-4.5 percent for the Coles supermarkets and liquor stores business.

Wesfarmers' bigger supermarkets rival Woolworths Ltd (WOW.AX) last week reported a 7.9 percent rise in third-quarter comparable store food and liquor sales.

The group bought the Coles, Target, Kmart and Officeworks stores in 2007 for A$19 billion at the top of the market, before the global credit crunch hit. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by James Thornhill)