British supermarket giant Tesco plans to raise around £810m through a share placing after announcing stronger than expected sales growth.
In a trading statement, it said UK like-for-like sales rose by 7.5% in the seven weeks to January 3, with sales of non-food items such as DVDs and CDs growing particularly strongly. Group sales were 16.7% higher as international sales, which includes the Republic of Ireland stores, climbed by 22%.
Tesco said the fund raising would be used to fund expansion in the non-food sector and in international markets.
