Tesco suffers fresh fall in British sales
Supermarket giant Tesco said Monday that British sales sank further in the group's first quarter, just two months after the retailer had pledged to revive its ailing domestic operations.
Sales at British stores open for at least a year dropped 1.5 percent in the 13 weeks to May 26, excluding petrol and sales tax, compared with the same period a year earlier, it said in a trading update.
That was in line with market expectations but marked a slight improvement on the 1.6-percent decline experienced the previous quarter.
"Tesco has performed robustly in the first quarter despite subdued consumer confidence in all our markets," said Chief Executive Philip Clarke in the statement.
"Our customers are seeing the evidence of the changes we're making and they're telling us they like what they see."
Britain's biggest retailer added that total group sales increased by 2.2 percent during the first quarter.
The group had pledged in April to invest £1.0 billion in a bid to transform the fortunes of its domestic activities, which have been hit by souring consumer sentiment and the weak economy.
Tesco meanwhile revealed on Monday that it experienced its best week of the year in the run-up to Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee earlier this month, as Britons celebrated the monarch's 60 years on the throne. However, that week fell outside the reporting period.
"Although not included in this quarter's results, we saw our biggest ever week -- outside of a Christmas period -- in the run up to the Diamond Jubilee, with over £1.0 billion in sales, as customers all around the country chose to celebrate a unique event, despite the pressures on household budgets," it said.
Back in March, Tesco's head of British operations, Richard Brasher, quit following poor Christmas results and a profit warning in January.
Tesco is the world's third-largest retailer after US-based Wal-Mart and France's Carrefour.
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