Total sales, excluding fuel, rose 0.4% to £13.9bn with like-for-like sales up 0.2% in the 13 weeks to May 25.
Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) reported a slowdown in first-quarter sales growth due to the absence of hot weather and a royal wedding that boosted last year’s results.
The supermarket chain said total sales, excluding fuel, rose 0.4% to £13.9bn with like-for-like sales up 0.2% in the 13 weeks to May 25.
That compares to last year’s 12.1% increase in total sales and 1.8% rise in like-for-like sales, buoyed by a UK heatwave, the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and the FA Cup final.
In the first quarter of this year, UK sales dipped 0.4% to £9.1bn and like-for-like sales edged up 0.4% as the company invested in range, price and loyalty programmes to tackle tough competition.
The UK’s biggest supermarket chains have been battling for market share as more customers flock to German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said the group still managed to grow ahead of the UK market on both volume and value.
“Our customer offer is more competitive than ever, with a wider choice of our ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ products now available in more stores, helping to drive more than 10% sales growth across the range,” he said.
Mixed sales performance outside of UK
In Tesco’s Republic of Ireland division, total sales increased 2.7% to £567mln and like-for-like sales gained 1.3%.
The Booker business delivered a 12.4% increase in sales to £1.5bn, but this included an additional nine trading days since Tesco completed the acquisition of the wholesaler last March. On a like-for-like basis Booker sales rose 3.1%.
Central Europe sales dropped 7.9% to £1.3bn and like-for-like sales fell 4.9%, reflecting a decline in Poland and cooler weather across the region.
Asia sales were up 2.6% to £1.2bn with like-for-like sales rising 0.1% as the group increased market share in Thailand.
Banking division struggles
Sales in the banking division dropped 1.9% to £270mln.
Last month Tesco said it was considering selling the banking unit’s mortgage portfolio after coming under pressure from tough market conditions.
Tesco Bank has ceased new mortgage lending while it explores options to sell the portfolio, including the complete transfer of related balances and ongoing administration of relevant accounts.
Source – Proactive Investors
