4th Dec 2007 07:02
Tesco PLC04 December 2007 Tuesday 4 December 2007 TESCO PLC THIRD QUARTER TRADING STATEMENT GROUP SALES GROW BY 11.8% Chief Executive, Terry Leahy commented: "We've maintained pleasing progress during the third quarter across the group.Overall sales growth has strengthened in the period, with Internationaldelivering a particularly strong performance, and the UK has again done well,with good growth in our core food categories. Our first Fresh & Easy stores inthe United States have been very well-received by customers." GROUP SALES Group sales for the thirteen weeks ending 24th November 2007 increased by 11.8%,up from 9.2% in the first half, driven by all five parts of our strategy. Ourrapidly expanding international operations have delivered excellent growth, thecore UK business has made solid progress and our non-food ranges - helped by thelaunch of Tesco Direct - have performed well. Our retailing services arecontinuing to attract new customers through a strong pipeline of new productsand Dobbies Garden Centres has made a good start as part of the Group. STRONG INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE International sales were up 25.7% at actual exchange rates and by 21.4% atconstant rates. This included a particularly strong performance in Asia, wheresales grew by 29% at constant rates. We have also seen rapid growth in all ourCentral European markets. We are on track to deliver a substantial programme ofnew store openings this year, which will provide over seven million square feetof new selling space in International. At the same time, the conversion of theacquired Leader Price stores in Poland and the Makro business in Malaysia hasgone very well. SOLID GROWTH IN UK BUSINESS We are making good progress in the UK, with total sales growing by 7.6%.Like-for-like sales for the quarter increased by 4.8%, including petrol, and by4.1% excluding petrol. We saw inflation, excluding petrol, of 0.8%, which wassimilar to the first half, driven by higher market prices for commodities andseasonal fresh foods. Non-food remains deflationary. Net new stores, excludingpetrol, contributed 3.0% (2.8% including petrol). Tesco Direct and our tesco.cominternet grocery business have both delivered very strong sales in the quarter. FINANCIAL POSITION* Operationally the business is performing according to plan with sufficientfinancing in place to achieve planned growth. Contacts:- Investor Relations: Steve Webb 01992 644 800Press: Jonathan Church 01992 646 606 Angus Maitland 0207 379 5151 * This additional disclosure forms our Interim Management Statement which has been included as part of our adoption of the Transparency Directive. This is being implemented in the UK through provisions in the Companies Act and FSA rules. The aim of this Directive is to enhance transparency on EU capital markets by establishing rules for the disclosure of periodic financial reports and of major shareholdings for companies whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market in the EU. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Tesco