Supermarket giant Tesco has announced its best quarterly sales rise in Britain for two years with a welcome return to growth in non- food sales.
Britain’s biggest retailer said first-quarter sales at UK stores rose 4.3 per cent, excluding fuel and VAT, in line with forecasts and up from 3.7 per cent in the previous quarter. Total group sales rose 9.7 per cent, including petrol, in the 13 weeks to May 30.
Tesco said its non-food business has resumed “modest” growth, driven partly by the recent relaunch of its Clubcard loyalty scheme .
The supermarket chain saw growth across electricals, homewares, stationery, gardening and toys, with Clubcard giving shoppers double the value of money-off vouchers on certain product ranges.
Commenting on the sales growth, Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy said: “We’ve made a solid start to the financial year, maintaining good momentum in a challenging economic climate.”
“We are also keeping a strong focus through the downturn on our long-term strategic objectives and I am encouraged by the impetus last year’s acquisitions (of Tesco Personal Finance and Homever in Korea) are now giving the group.”
Finance director Laurie McIlwee said: “It’s a bit premature to say things are improving, but the fact that non-food sales have started to grow and sales of our Finest range are up are good signs.”
He added that shoppers’ main focus remained on low prices, with sales of Tesco’s budget “Value” range growing by around 30 per cent year-on-year.
