Tesco has released an impressive preliminary statement today, showing a 13.3 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to £1.6 billion in the year to February 22.

Group sales were up 11.5 per cent in the same 52-week period, to £28.6bn and in the UK alone, sales rose 7.9 per cent to £23.4bn.

International sales are also on the up, reaching £5.2bn after a hike of 31.2 per cent year-on-year. And the progress being made overseas is probably best signalled by a 78.2 per cent increase in underlying operating profits, to £212m.

Tesco now has 45 per cent of its group space in international markets and 75,000 of its total of 296,000 employees are based overseas. On the announcement of its results, Tesco pledged to create a further 11,000 jobs in the UK this year and 20,000 on a global scale.

Tesco's business planning manager for produce Hamish Renton told freshinfo that the performance of the chain's fresh produce department in the UK has been 'excellent' in the last 12 months and that it now has a 30.3 per cent value share of the fresh produce retail market. For more comments from Renton, see Friday's Journal.

Topics