Tesco has delivered strong growth and record sales over the Christmas and New Year period. Group sales increased by 13.0% in the seven weeks to 8th January 2005, driven by all four parts of our strategy.
Strong UK Performance
UK sales grew by 12.1%, including like-for-like growth of 9.3% and 2.8% from net new space. Significant growth in petrol volumes, which we have seen for much of this year, continued over the holiday period, helped again by our efforts to keep fuel prices down. Excluding petrol, like-for-like sales increased by 7.6%, similar to the rate of growth reported in our third quarter.
Excluding petrol, we saw deflation of (1.6%) in our stores as we invested further in lowering prices for customers. We announced an extra £80 million of cuts on 31st December.
We are delighted that our staff delivered our best ever Christmas for customers. One stop shopping for food and non-food at our 100 Extra stores was particularly popular.
Good International Progress
International sales grew by 16.1% over the Christmas and New Year trading period, despite tough trading conditions in some of our markets in Central Europe.
The group’s strong sales performance means that, despite higher energy and fuel costs and adverse movements in exchange rates, we remain confident that our out-turn for the year will be in line with current market consensus.
For further information:
Press
Jonathan Church
+44 1992 644 645
Angus Maitland
+44 207 379 5151
Investor Relations
Steve Webb
+44 1992 644 800
