After steering Tesco to full-year profit and fourth-quarter sales growth, Dave Lewis insisted “we don’t at all think that the job is done”.

Although he is not ready to rest on his laurels, Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis has much to celebrate after overseeing strong progress to date across his three strategic priorities.

Retail Week takes a look at what Lewis has achieved so far following what he called a “significant” year.

Regaining competitiveness in the core UK business

  • Hired 9,000 additional shopfloor staff to drive customer service levels
  • Invested in slashing prices across thousands of products
  • Introduced its “innovative” Brand Guarantee initiative, giving shoppers immediate discounts at the till
  • Launched seven entry-level ‘Farms’ ranges to better compete with discounters across fruit, vegetable, meat and poultry
  • Reviewed 33 food categories and streamlined number of products by an average of 18%
  • Achieved annual growth in sales volumes for the first time in five years and quarterly like-for-like value growth for the first time in three years
  • Closed 60 unprofitable Tesco stores and ended 24-hour opening in 76 superstores and Extras

Protecting and strengthening the balance sheet

  • Reduced its debt by a total of £6.2bn
  • Offloading non-core businesses including its South Korean Homeplus arm
  • Acquired the freehold on 70 of its stores and two distribution centres, reducing the grocer’s exposure to future rent increases
  • Pulled the plug on plans to build 49 stores and agreed the sale of 14 of those development sites for £250m
  • Streamlined central European headquarters into one central head office overseeing operations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia

Rebuilding trust and transparency

  • Introduced lower, more stable prices and reduced the levels of promotional activity through couponing and multi-buy offers
  • Simplified the way Tesco negotiates with suppliers, moving from 24 forms of commercial income to just three
  • Positive feedback from suppliers increased to 68% in the second half of the year, compared with 51% in the second half of 2014/15
  • Unveiled plans to donate all surplus food from stores to charity and eliminate waste