Tesco “committed” to doing all it can to drive down food bills
Tesco is committed to doing everything it can to drive down food bills, the supermarket retailer’s chief executive has said.
“We know how challenging it is for many households across the country, as they continue to grapple with the ongoing cost of living pressures”, said Ken Murphy.
He added that a “relentless focus on customers” – which included investments in value and own brand products – has driven a strong performance during the first half of the financial year.
During the six months to the end of August, Tesco reported a year-on-year increase in sales of 8.4% to £30.7bn, primarily due to an rise in prices.
The retailer also reported an increase in retail profit of 13.5% to £1.4bn, as it cut costs and attracted more customers.
Tesco said that looking forward, it will continue to prioritise investment in its customer offer by working with its supplier partners to reduce prices wherever its can.
The retailer said: “This relentless focus on customers, combined with significant cost reductions from our Save to Invest programme, resulted in a strong performance in the first half of the year which means we now expect to deliver between £2.6bn and £2.7bn retail adjusted operating profit for the 2023/24 financial year. We also now expect to generate retail free cash flow of between £1.8bn and £2.0bn this year, ahead of our medium-term guidance range of £1.4bn to £1.8bn.
“We continue to expect Bank adjusted operating profit of between £130m and £160m.”