(Bloomberg) — Tesco Plc joined rival grocer J Sainsbury Plc in raising its profit forecast after solid online sales during the Christmas period.
- Tesco expects retail operating profit slightly above the top-end of its previous 2.5 billion-pound ($3.43 billion) to 2.6 billion-pound guidance range, the company said in a statement Thursday.
- Britain’s largest grocer said festive-season sales drove a 0.2% increase in U.K. comparable sales in the 19 weeks through Jan. 8. That’s on top of a strong period last year.
Key Insights
- Sales across the group during the Christmas period were up 3.2%.
- Earlier this week, Sainsbury’s raised its profit forecast following strong Christmas sales, defying concern that supply chain problems and a surge of omicron infections would hit demand over the festive period.
- The resilient performance of supermarkets during the pandemic has generated bidding wars for U.K. grocers in recent years, with Wm Morrison Supermarkets and Asda recently changing hands.
- Tesco’s boom from online sales has at times been thrown off course by IT constraints. Tesco said on Wednesday it was experiencing an issue with its website. In October, online ordering was frozen due to an attempted hack.
Market Reaction
- Tesco’s shares have risen 0.8% so far this year.
Get More
- Read the statement here.
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