7th Oct 2015 06:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - Tesco PLC Wednesday said it made a profit in the first half of its financial year, having suffered a loss in what was a very tumultuous time for the business last year, but its sales still fell in a challenging UK grocery market.
The supermarket chain reported a GBP74 million pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended August 29, an improvement on the GBP19 million pretax loss a year before. Revenue, however, fell 1.9% to GBP23.94 billion from GBP24.27 billion.
Tesco said that sales were hit by weak European currencies against strong sterling, but that it is seeing year-on-year growth in the UK in transactions and volumes.
"We have delivered an unprecedented level of change in our business over the last twelve months and it is working. The first-half results show sustained improvement across a broad range of key indicators. In the UK, we continue to improve all aspects of our offer for customers, resulting in volume growth which is allowing us to create a virtuous circle of investment. Our transformation programme in Europe has accelerated growth and reduced operating expenses, and in Asia, we have gained market share in challenging economic conditions," Chief Executive Dave Lewis said in a statement.
"We have concluded our portfolio review with the sale of Homeplus, our business in Korea, enabling us to take a significant step forward on our priority of strengthening the balance sheet. Further progress will be driven by continuing to increase the level of cash generated from our retained assets," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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