Significant improvement for customers, focus on building long-term loyalty
Tesco announces Q1 2014/2015 interim management statement
Like-for-like sales performance in Asia has improved since the last quarter despite the continued effect of the political situation in Thailand. In Europe, like-for-like sales were positive in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Turkey. Whilst Ireland remains intensely competitive with high levels of untargeted couponing in the market, our performance there is starting to improve.
Outlook
Tesco's is pleased by the early response to accelerated efforts to deliver the most compelling offer for customers. The company expects this acceleration to continue to impact headline performance throughout the coming quarters and for trading conditions to remain challenging for the UK grocery market as a whole.
There have been no material events, transactions or changes in the financial position of the Group since the year end, other than as outlined in this statement.
Philip Clarke, Chief Executive of Tesco:
"Our accelerated plans are making a real difference for customers and we are more competitive than we have been for many years. Since February, we have cut prices on the products that matter most, cut home delivery charges and made Grocery Click & Collect free. We launched Clubcard Fuel Save nationwide in March and have already helped over a quarter of UK households cut the cost of filling their tanks. Our store refresh programme is on track to bring a new face of Tesco to 650 neighbourhoods this year including over 100 of our Extra stores.
As expected, the acceleration of our plans is impacting our near-term sales performance. The first quarter has also seen a continuation of the challenging consumer trends in the UK, reflecting still subdued levels of spending in addition to the more structural changes taking place across the retail industry. We are determined to lead in this period of change, building long-term customer loyalty and positioning the business to win in the multichannel era.
In our international businesses, we have applied the same focus to building loyalty and maintaining capital discipline. We have seen some improvement in overall like-for-like sales performance since the last quarter and have now completed the formation of our partnerships with CRE in China and Tata in India."
To view the full announcement, please go to: www.tescoplc.com/Q12014.
