Tesco has reported financial results for Q3 - 13 weeks to 24 November 2018 and the Christmas period covering six weeks to 5 January 2019.
Like-for-like sales in the UK & ROI business including Booker grew by 1.9% in the third quarter and 2.6% in the six-week Christmas period.
In the core Tesco UK business, third quarter like-for-like sales increased by 0.7%, representing our twelfth consecutive quarter of growth.
In a more challenging market, Tesco made significant further improvements to its customer offer. Over 74% of its 10,000 own-brand products had been relaunched by the end of the third quarter, with the roll-out of our ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ range 95% complete.
As expected, and following a step-up in the marketing of ‘Exclusively at Tesco’, the firm saw an increase in customers trading into the exceptional value offered by these products. Whilst this, and the initial disruption as it rolled out the new ranges, impacted the value of like-for-like sales, by the end of the third quarter overall UK sales volumes were outperforming the market.
Dave Lewis, Chief Executive, said, “As a team we have achieved a lot in the last 19 weeks. In the UK we delivered significant improvements in our competitive offer and this is reflected in a very strong Christmas performance which was ahead of the market.
'In Central Europe, the reshaping of our business continues and we are confident of the outcome we envisaged. In Asia, negotiations with suppliers are concluding satisfactorily and we can see this in our simpler, clearer, more impactful offer for customers.
'We have more to do everywhere but remain bang on track to deliver our plans for the year and as we enter our centenary we are in a strong position.”