5th Oct 2016 06:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - Tesco PLC, the UK's largest supermarket chain, on Wednesday said it achieved like-for-like sales growth in the first half of its financial year and said it remains on track to meet its pre-exceptionals operating profit target for the full year.
The FTSE 100 grocer said it made a pretax profit of GBP71.0 million in the 26 weeks to August 27, down 28% from the GBP99.0 million made a year prior, as the group booked a series of costs related to its restructuring, including redundancies and head office relocation costs.
Total revenue increased to GBP27.34 billion from GBP26.97 billion a year earlier, as group sales rose 3.3% year-on-year to GBP24.4 billion, excluding VAT, fuel and discontinued businesses.
Like-for-like sales for Tesco in the UK grew 0.6% from a year before, while group like-for-like sales were up 1.0%. UK volumes rose 2.1% and transactions in the UK increased 1.6% year-on-year, Tesco said, while international volumes were up 3.3% and transactions rose 0.3%.
Tesco said its new fresh food plans are performing ahead of plan, and it has continued to invest in improving its customer offer.
Tesco said it remains on track to deliver GBP1.2 billion in group operating profit before exceptional items for the full 2017 financial year, having reported GBP515.0 million in the first half.
"We have made further strong progress in the first half, with positive like-for-like sales growth across all parts of the group as we re-invest in our customer offer whilst rebuilding profitability in a sustainable way," said Dave Lewis, Tesco's chief executive.
"Whilst the market is uncertain, we have made significant progress against the priorities we set out two years ago, stabilising the business and positioning us well for the future. Today, we are sharing the plans we have in place to become even more competitive for our customers, even simpler for colleagues and an even better partner for our suppliers, whilst creating long-term, sustainable value for our shareholders," Lewis added.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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