Tesco Group trading profit down

• Group sales up 1.4% to £36.0bn (up 3.2% at constant rates); Group sales exc. petrol up 1.6% (up 3.7% at constant rates)

• Statutory profit before tax down (11.6)% to £1.7bn; Underlying profit before tax down (8.5)% to £1.8bn

Tesco plc announces interim results 2012/13.Financial headlines:• Group sales up 1.4% to £36.0bn (up 3.2% at constant rates); Group sales exc. #

• Group trading profit of £1.6bn, down (10.5)% – UK down (12.4)% to £1.1bn; International down (17.1)% to £0.4bn; Tesco Bank up 114% to £94m 

• Underlying diluted EPS reduction of (7.9)% 

• Interim dividend per share maintained at 4.63p

• Group capital expenditure brought down from £2.1bn to £1.6bn; on track for a full year reduction to c.£3.2bn 

 

Business update:

• UK plan implementation underway, with improvements in UK sales performance, including like-for-like sales growth in second quarter

• Reduced new UK space programme on track; greater focus on Express, with 60 new stores in H1

• Grocery online business continues to outperform, growing by 11% in the UK; dotcom now launched in Poland and Slovakia, with Thailand and Malaysia launching soon

• Tesco Bank migration successfully completed onto new, modern platforms; mortgages launched

• Majority of businesses in Asia and Europe gained or held share, in tough external environment

• United States losses reduced slightly to £(72)m at constant rates; actions taken to reduce losses further in the second half

• Successful property transactions completed in Thailand and Korea, raising c.£700m proceeds

• Japanese market exit deal agreed with Aeon