JERUSALEM, May 15 (Reuters) - Shufersal, Israel's largest supermarket chain, said on Sunday its profit quadrupled in the first quarter, boosted by higher sales and cost-cutting measures.

Shufersal posted net profit of 53 million shekels ($14 million) in the January-March period, up from 13 million a year earlier.

Revenue grew 0.8 percent to 2.9 billion shekels.

It noted that its results came despite the lack of heavy shopping ahead of the Passover holiday, which fell in April this year but in March in 2015.

Same store sales in the quarter rose 3.6 percent, although they were up 7.8 percent excluding the influence of Passover.

Shufersal is controlled by holding company Discount Investment Corp.

($1 = 3.7799 shekels) (Reporting by Steven Scheer)