Tesco like-for-like sales slow in Q1 |
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Published
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Wed, 14 Jun 2006 10:45
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LONDON - UK's biggest food retailer, Tesco PLC has reported that like-for-like sales for the first quarter stood at 4.5 percent for the 13 weeks ending May 27. This is a slow start to the sales segment, although the group maintained that it had made a "good start" to the current trading year.
However Tesco's international business continued to flourish with a 15.3 percent increase in sales for the 12 weeks ending May 27. "We've made a good start to the year across the group. International is showing strong growth and pushing on well with new store development and the UK has made solid progress on top of two years of exceptional performance," said Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco's chief executive.
Just six weeks ago Tesco had reported record profits of £2.2 billion for 2005. But the group is facing stiff competition from rivals J Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer. It reported that overall sales in the UK were at 9 percent for the first quarter, while like-for-like sales excluding petrol were 4.5 percent. This is slightly less than the 4.9 percent reported in the final quarter of the last year.
Tesco said that its growth was being fuelled by all four strategic areas, "Our international operations have delivered a strong start to the year, the core UK business has shown continued growth, more customers are choosing from our non-food ranges and our retailing services have also performed well."
Analysts say that the retailer should post pre-tax profits in excess of £2.5 billion for the full year.
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Tesco posts increase in Christmas sales, confident to meet forecasts 