Tesco has reported rising half-year sales and profits as the supermarket received a boost from its takeover of wholesaler Booker.
Britain’s biggest retailer delivered its 11th quarter in a row of rising UK and Ireland like-for-like sales, with a marked improvement to 4.2% over the past three months.
In the UK alone, comparable sales were up 2.3% in the second quarter.
The chain said group-wide underlying operating profits lifted 24.4% to £933 million in the first half. Statutory group pre-tax profits rose 2% to £564 million, or 2.2% higher on a constant currency basis.
In the UK and Ireland, Tesco booked a 47.6% jump in operating profits to £685 million, £97 million of which was linked to Booker.
Dave Lewis, chief executive of Tesco, said: “We have made a good start to the year.
“The step up in the second quarter is driven mainly by the UK & Republic of Ireland and delivers our eleventh consecutive quarter of growth.
Tesco finalised the £3.7 billion deal earlier this year, and the group has been moving quickly to integrate the two businesses.
However, Tesco saw statutory operating profit fall 6.5% to £819 million as it booked exceptional costs linked to the closure of its non-food online business Tesco Direct.
The group recently launched a new discount store format – Jack’s – as it aims to take on German discounters Aldi and Lidl, which have eaten into the market share of Britain’s so-called “big four” supermarkets.
It is one of a number of initiatives Mr Lewis has launched to retain market dominance.
He added: “We announced a strategic alliance with Carrefour in July which goes live this month.
“And we are now more than half-way through the biggest own brand re-launch in our nearly 100-year history, including a significant investment in over 300 new ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ products at market-leading prices.”
