Tesco PLC on Thursday raised its annual guidance as it hailed trading over the Christmas period and its financial third quarter.
The London-based supermarket chain’s third quarter is the 13 weeks to November 25, while Christmas covers the six weeks to January 6.
In the UK & Republic of Ireland, Tesco reported like-for-like sales growth of 7.3% in the third quarter, slowing to 6.4% over the six-week Christmas period.
The figures exclude value-added tax and fuel. Tesco cited a strong market share performance in the UK, adding 15 basis points to 27.9% in the four weeks to Christmas, and net switching gains for 10 12-week periods in a row, according to the monthly Kantar UK market survey.
‘Our continued investments across the full breadth of our customer offer have resulted in a stronger trading performance than anticipated,’ Tesco said.
The company upgraded its guidance for the current financial year, now expecting retail adjusted operating profit of around £2.75 billion, which is above its previous guidance range of £2.6 to £2.7 billion.
Tesco shares rose 0.9% to 298.10 pence each on Thursday morning in London, bettering the wider FTSE 100 index, which was up 0.5%.
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