London (Reuters)-Tesco noted its annual profit forecast on Thursday, after announcing a 4.9% increase in retail sales underlying in the United Kingdom in the first half, the largest British supermarket group claiming to have benefited from an exceptionally hot summer and have won market shares in its competitors.

Around 07:04 GMT, the title increased by 0.26%.

The group, whose British food market share reached 28.4%this year, said that it now provides an adjusted operating profit between 2.9 and 3.1 billion pounds Sterling (between 3.33 and 3.56 billion euros) for the year 2025/26, against a previous forecasting between 2.7 and 3.0 billion pounds Sterling.

Tesco made a profit of 3.13 billion pounds sterling in 2024/25.

In the United Kingdom, sales on a constant scope increased by 4.9% in the first half, after an increase of 5.1% in the first quarter.

“The competitive intensity remains high,” said Tesco.

“However, during the first half, the more favorable than expected reaction of customers to our actions and the beneficial effects of a long period of good weather helped to compensate for the cost of our investments,” said the group.

In April, Tesco announced to expect a drop in his profit for the year 2025/26, because the company had put aside cash to deal with the promise of sustained price reductions in Asda, number three in the sector, which lost market share.

However, no price war has materialized and Tesco action has won 17% since the start of the year.

The sectoral data published last month by market research firm WorldPanel show that Tesco has won more market share than any other British food distributor.

The director general Ken Murphy said that these gains “reflect the decisive measures that we took at the start of the year to invest more in value, quality and service”.

According to analysts, Tesco’s strategy consisting in aligning its prices with those of Discounter Aldi for more than 600 articles, associated with an intensive promotion of its Clubcard loyalty program, which offers lower prices to its members, is the engine of its growth.

Tesco is also digitizing more and more, by strengthening its personalized commitment to its customers and developing growth areas such as its Marketplace online platform and the retail media.

The adjusted operating profit in the first half increased 1.5% to 1.67 billion pounds sterling.

(James Davey, Mara Vîlcu for the , edited by Augustin Turpin)

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