Tesco reports first sales growth for eight years
Supermarket giant Tesco has reported its first rise in full year UK like-for like sales since 2009 with growth of 0.9%.
In the year ending February, group sales rose by 4.3% to £49.9 billion while group operating profit before exceptional items increased by 30% to £1.28 billion.
Dave Lewis, Tesco chief executive, said: “Today, our prices are lower, our range is simpler and our service and availability have never been better. Our exclusive fresh food brands have strengthened our value proposition and our food quality perception is at its highest level for five years. At the same time, we have increased profits, generated more cash and significantly reduced debt.”
Tesco introduced seven new, exclusive fresh food brands in the year and said that these brands now feature in 64% of customers’ baskets.
It also reduced multi-buy promotions by a further 24% year-on-year in a bid to simplify pricing. It revealed that a typical customer basket is 6% cheaper than in September 2014.
Lewis added: “We are ahead of where we expected to be at this stage, having made good progress on all six of the strategic drivers we shared in October. We are confident that we can build on this strong performance in the year ahead, making further progress towards our medium-term ambitions.”
