​Tesco like-for-likes nudge up as Booker boosts growth

UK and Ireland sales rose 0.8% on a like-for-like basis and 1.3% on a total basis, reaching £11.16bn. However, UK total sales dipped 0.4%, though like for likes rose 0.4%.

Booker drove growth with like for likes up 3.1% and total sales up 12.4% to £1.51bn.

Tesco attributed the performance to investments in price, range and loyalty that it made as part of its ‘100 Years of Great Value’ campaign.

Online sales rose 7% with the proportion of customers choosing to click and collect increasing to over 10%.

The grocer highlighted Booker’s improved fresh food, flowers and drinks offer, which it said helped to drive sales.

The group experienced torrid trading in Central Europe where sales fell 7.9% to £1.29bn. In Asia, total sales rose 2.6% to £1.24bn while like for likes crept up 0.1%.

At a group level, like for likes rose 0.2% and total sales were up 0.4% to £13.97bn.

Chief executive Dave Lewis said: “We have had a strong start to the year, growing ahead of the UK market on both a volume and value basis. Our customer offer is more competitive than ever, with a wider choice of our ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ products now available in more stores, helping to drive more than 10% sales growth across the range.”