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| Tesco says growth continues as sales rise again | Tesco says growth continues as sales rise again |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket chain, has reported an 11th consecutive quarter of rising sales. | Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket chain, has reported an 11th consecutive quarter of rising sales. |
| Across the Tesco group like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of new stores, were up 4.2% in the second quarter. | Across the Tesco group like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of new stores, were up 4.2% in the second quarter. |
| Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said this was the best sales growth in more than a decade. | Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said this was the best sales growth in more than a decade. |
| Sales at Booker, the food wholesaler that Tesco bought at the end of last year, jumped 15.1%. | Sales at Booker, the food wholesaler that Tesco bought at the end of last year, jumped 15.1%. |
| The firm had "made a good start to the year", Mr Lewis said, with profits mainly driven by growth in the UK and Ireland. | The firm had "made a good start to the year", Mr Lewis said, with profits mainly driven by growth in the UK and Ireland. |
| Pre-tax profit rose 2.2% higher in the first half to £564m. | Pre-tax profit rose 2.2% higher in the first half to £564m. |
| However, Tesco shares dropped more than 5.5% in early trading. | |
| Bruno Monteyne, an analyst with investment bank Bernstein, said that Tesco has delivered strong sales growth in food in the UK and at Booker, but overall profits were "soft". | |
| In September Tesco unveiled a new discount chain called Jack's to take on discounters such as Aldi and Lidl. | |
| In a call with journalists, Mr Lewis said he was "really very happy so far" with the performance of the two new stores. | |
| "So far, so very very good," he said. "The two stores are trading very well, consumer feedback is really very good," he said. | |
| Two more Jack's will launch on Thursday in Edge Hill and St Helens in Liverpool, he added. | |
| Brexit plans | |
| Mr Lewis said that retail market conditions were tough, and that the firm was making contingency plans for Brexit. | |
| "The biggest single challenge will be in a no-deal scenario, will be what happens with fresh food," he said. | |
| "It's all about product flow [over borders]," he said. "The possibility of stockpiling fresh food is very, very limited." | |
| Mr Lewis said that in the lead up to Brexit the company was focusing its attention on how to ensure imports of fresh food are not held up. | |
| He added that the retailer was looking at stockpiling grocery products. |