AFP – Supermarket group Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, said yesterday that net profit gained in its first half as cost pressures eased for consumers and companies.
Profit after tax jumped 13 per cent to GBP1.1 billion (USD1.4 billion) in the six months to late August from a year earlier with sales rising as inflation cooled, Tesco said in a statement.
The supermarket giant reduced costs by GBP260 million in the first half and said that it expects to cut them by GBP500 million over the full year.
“We are in good shape, with volume growth delivering strong financial performance,” Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said in the earnings statement.
The company noted that “sales inflation returned to more normalised levels as cost inflation headwinds eased”.
