LONDON (Reuters) – Tesco raised its annual profit forecast on Wednesday after a better-than-expected 13.5 percent jump in first-half operating profit and signaled that food inflation would continue to fall.
The group, which has a 27% share of the UK grocery market, said it now expects its adjusted operating profit for 2023/24 to be between £2.6bn and 2.7 billion pounds (between 3 and 3.11 billion euros).
It previously forecast around £2.5 billion.
In the first half, Tesco made an adjusted operating profit of 1.42 billion pounds, above the average analyst forecast of 1.35 billion pounds and 1.25 billion pounds.
Group sales, excluding VAT and fuel, rose 8.9% to £30.7 billion.
In the UK, like-for-like sales increased 8.7% in the first half, after increasing 9.0% in the first quarter.
“Food inflation fell over the half and, although external pressures remain, we expect them to continue into the second half,” said Ken Murphy, Tesco’s chief executive.
(Reporting by James Davey; by Nathan Vifflin, editing by Kate Entringer)
Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
