£98,000 a minute as Tesco profits rocket

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco rang up an average of £98,554 a minute through its tills over the last financial year as profits soared ahead by 11.8 per cent on the previous year.

Britain's biggest supermarket recorded strong growth in the year to February 23, breaking from the recent doom and gloom in the UK retail sector.

Overall underlying pre-tax profits rose to £2.8 billion on the back of group sales of £51.8bn.

In the UK, the firm said its core business performed well in "challenging" market conditions, with sales increasing by 6.7 per cent, while like-for-like sales excluding petrol increased by 3.5 per cent.

Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco's chief executive, said: "The breadth of the group and the strength of our business model have enabled Tesco to deliver another year of double-digit sales, profit and earnings per share growth in challenging market conditions.

"We begin the new financial year confidently – with a good start in the UK, excellent progress in our established international markets and promising early performance from our investments in future growth, particularly in the United States, China and Turkey."

Tesco, which has around 30 per cent of the UK grocery market, has been coming under increasing pressure from resurgent rivals like Asda and Morrisons.

The company said that its UK stores had "coped well" with unseasonal summer weather, the recovery of its competitors and a deteriorating non-food market.

It said that it wanted to "trade the business harder" in the coming year to "give what help we can to families whose budgets have become increasingly stretched by higher interest rates, fuel costs and taxes", although it added that its stores had seen "modest" inflation of 1.2 per cent in the year.

It also said that Dobbies Garden Centres, the Lasswade-based firm that Tesco now owns 65 per cent of, is a "strong business" that can expand more rapidly towards national coverage.

Tesco said that its strong performance had been helped from its overseas expansion, with 50 per cent of its group trading profit growth coming from abroad.

The Fresh & Easy convenience stores it launched in the US, which have been criticised by retail experts, have been "well-received" by customers, the company said.