Tesco LFL sales at top end of expectations

16th Jun 2009 07:03

UK like-for-like (LFL) sales growth at Britain’s leading supermarket chain, Tesco, came in at the top end of expectations, helped by a resumption of growth in non-food sales.Excluding petrol and VAT, LFL sales in the UK in the 13 weeks to the end of May rose 4.3% compared to a year earlier. Analysts had been predicting an improvement of between 3.5% and 4.3%.The demise of Woolworths appears to have given the non-food business a lift, as it returned to LFL growth. Tesco Direct saw strong demand for electricals, homewares, horticulture, stationery and toys.The re-launch of the Tesco Clubcard scheme has been ‘very encouraging’ with more than a million Clubcard members doubling up their vouchers so far.Tesco Personal Finance, the group’s banking arm which is seen as a main engine of growth in the UK, contributed 2.2 percentage points of the 9.3% growth in sales (excluding petrol and VAT) by the UK operation.Group sales (excluding petrol) rose 12.6%, with a particularly strong contribution from the Asian stores. International sales jumped 20.1% at actual exchange rates and rose 11.4% using constant rates. Performance in Europe was ‘resilient’, the company said, with sales up 1.9%, while sales at Asian stores climbed 43.8%. The fledgling US operation saw a 174% improvement in sales year on year.‘Operationally the business is performing in line with expectations and the outlook for the year as a whole remains unchanged,’ the company said.