Tesco says shoppers buying more after inflation ‘lessened substantially’

Tesco said inflation in the grocery sector has “lessened substantially” as it revealed higher sales and profits for the past year.

The UK’s largest supermarket group posted an adjusted operating profit of £2.83 billion for the year to February, up almost 13% on the previous year.

Meanwhile, overall revenues excluding VAT rose by 4.4% to £68.2 billion for the year.

Tesco said retail like-for-like sales grew by 6.8% for the year, as it benefited from a return to volume growth in the UK and Ireland in the second half of the year as easing price inflation led shoppers to buy more products.

This offset a 17.2% drop in fuel sales driven by falling petrol and diesel prices.

Tesco told shareholders it saw growth supported by investment to improve value, with the retailer cutting prices on around 4,000 products over the year.

The company was among grocers to invest heavily into price improvements amid strong competition from German discount brands Aldi and Lidl.

Chief executive Ken Murphy said: “Customers are choosing to shop more at Tesco, which is reflected in growing market share as they respond to the improvements we’ve made to the value and quality of our products.

“Inflationary pressures have lessened substantially; however, we are conscious that things are still difficult for many customers, so we have worked hard to reduce prices and have now been the cheapest full-line grocer for well over a year.”