Strong euro helps Tesco, but UK slows
Tuesday, 10 June 2008 07:25Tesco has said its underlying first quarter sales excluding petrol in its core UK market rose 3.5%, slowing from the start of the year, while its international business grew by 26.6%.
Britain's largest retailer said that although food growth in its core UK market had been good, 'our rate of growth in non-food has eased as consumers have become more cautious with their spending during recent months'.
UK growth in the 13 weeks ending May 24 slowed from the first five weeks of the financial year when Tesco said it was up more than 4%.
International sales growth - which includes Ireland - was boosted by the strong euro. When this was stripped out, growth was 13.9%. There was particularly strong growth of 32.4% in Europe, with 16.7% growth in Asia. No specific figures were given for Tesco Ireland.
