Britain's biggest retailer, supermarket group Tesco, said today that half-year profits and sales rose by 14% helped by the company's push into non-food areas and developing markets.
Underlying profit came to £481 million sterling within market expectations. Turnover increased to £11.5 billion from £10.1 billion this time last year.
Tesco Ireland also published its latest trading figures this morning. The group, which has 77 stores throughout the country with a workforce of 10,000 staff, does not reveal profit figures but sales figures are up almost 8% to 725 million euros for the six months to August.
Maurice Pratt, chief executive of Tesco Ireland, said that strong economic conditions combined with price reductions in many food brands were the main contributory factors in the sales increase.
Tesco, which already has a commanding lead over its rivals in Britain, launched its biggest ever price-cutting campaign this week by slicing £100 million off 3,500 groceries.
Tesco also announced today that it was creating 20,000 jobs worldwide this year. The British grocer has the fastest organic growth rate of any food retailer in Europe.
UK sales were up 10% during the reporting period while international sales from places like Eastern Europe and Asia grew 46% and contributed £33 million to group profits.
