Tesco sales climb 14.6%
Tesco underlined its strength in the British and Irish supermarket sector today after it announced sales were running 14.6% higher than a year earlier.
The improvement in the 12 weeks to May 21 included a total sales rise of 11.3% from its UK business alone, which was 6.8% higher when new store openings and petrol sales are stripped out of the figure.
Tesco operates 90 stores in Ireland and employs over 11,800 people.
Analysts had expected Tesco to report like-for-like UK growth of 6% in today’s first quarter update, which was published ahead of the company’s annual general meeting in London.
Chief executive Terry Leahy said: “The whole Tesco team has worked hard to deliver a solid start to a more challenging year.”
Tesco delivered profits of more than £2bn (€3bn) in its last financial year. Tesco has seen its share of the UK supermarket sector grow to 30% in recent weeks.
Internationally, sales were up 27.8%. The chain has more than 780 stores domestically and sites in countries including Taiwan and Hungary.
