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Tesco has announced that its sales increased 6.9% for the 19 weeks ended 6 January 2024 after stronger than expected volume growth in the period.
As a result the company now expects a retail adjusted operating profit of around £2.75bn, above its previous guidance range of £2.6bn to £2.7bn
The supermarket’s sales for the 13 weeks ended 25 November 2023 rose 7.3% while its sales across the Christmas period, the six weeks ended 6 January 2024, rose 6.4%.
Furthermore, the company saw its UK sales jump 7.5% in the 19 week period while its sales in the Republic of Ireland rose 7.3%.
However, its sales in Central Europe dropped 0.3% despite an increase of 1.6% across Christmas.
Ken Murphy, chief executive, said: “The Tesco team has worked harder than ever to help customers celebrate this Christmas, with our strongest ever range of great value, fantastic quality food.
“I want to say a huge thank you to all of our colleagues for their relentless dedication and energy. We stepped up our investment in service over the key festive period, with more colleagues on the shop floor, helping to deliver market-leading availability and making this our best Christmas yet.”
He added: “Over the period we cut nearly 2,700 prices, with a further 150 prices cut just this week, cementing our position as the UK’s cheapest full-line grocer. Our powerful combination of great value, quality, availability and service means that we head into the New Year in great shape to keep delivering for customers.”
“We put a strong focus on quality and innovation too, with over 550 new and improved festive products. Over 18 million customers took the opportunity to treat themselves by shopping from our Finest range, which saw sales growth of nearly 17%.”
