Positive sales in food has driven Tesco’s UK like-for-like sales growth for the first quarter of 2017/18, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of lifted results.
Tesco’s like-for-like sales in the UK were up 2.3%, buoyed by a 2.7% rise in like-for-like sales in food, particularly fresh food that saw strong volume growth at 1.6% with significant market outperformance.
The company reported a 1.3% boost in customer transactions, or ten million customers more than last year, while online grocery sales were also up by 4.8%.
In addition, the company’s combined UK & Republic of Ireland business grew by 2.2%, although total sales in the group were up slightly less at 0.8% at constant exchange rates.
International like-for-like sales took a 3% hit in the quarter, mostly due to a 2.7% impact from the company’s decision to discontinue certain products in Thailand.
In Europe, Tesco saw small improvement, driven by strong growth in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The retailer noted in its trading statement that it aims to work with its supplier partners to “protect customers from inflationary pressures”, with measures including further price reductions particularly on fresh food and healthy products and improving its price position relative to competitors.
Tesco’s chief executive, Dave Lewis, commented: “In tough market conditions, we have stayed true to our commitment to helping customers – working closely with our supplier partners to keep prices low.
“This is a good start to the year, with our sixth consecutive quarter of positive like-for-like sales growth across the group.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
