17th Jan 2006 07:01
Tesco PLC17 January 2006 Tuesday 17 January 2006 CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR TRADING STATEMENT TESCO DELIVERS STRONG CHRISTMAS SALES Tesco has delivered strong growth and record sales over the Christmas and NewYear period. Group sales increased by 11.5% in the seven weeks to 7 January2006, driven by all four parts of our strategy. Strong UK Performance UK sales grew by 10.1%, including like-for-like growth of 7.2% and 2.9% from netnew space. Excluding petrol, like-for-like sales increased by 5.7%, slightlyhigher than the rate of growth reported in our third quarter. Whilst deflationin our stores of (1.5)% remained broadly the same as in our third quarter andreflected our investment in lower prices for customers, the UK overall movedfrom inflation of 0.5% to deflation of (0.5)% as the impact of petrol pricerises moderated. The commitment and hard work of our staff once again delivered our best everChristmas for customers. Our customer service and product availability werestrong and one-stop shopping for food and non-food at our 117 Extra stores wasparticularly popular. Seasonal foods, especially Tesco Finest products, soldvery well and growth in non-foods was also pleasing, with home entertainment,electronics, clothing, toys and gifts performing strongly. Tesco.com had another record year, delivering over a million orders in thefour-week period before Christmas and Tesco Mobile signed-up its millionthcustomer during December. Good International Progress Our overseas businesses traded well over the Christmas and New Year tradingperiod with International sales growing by 16.1%. For further information: Investor Relations Steve Webb +44 1992 644 800Press Jonathan Church +44 1992 644 645 Angus Maitland +44 20 7379 5151 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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