Tesco reveals sharp fall in sales

Monday 09 June 2014

Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke has unveiled a third successive quarter of worsening sales decline and indicated there was little immediate prospect of an end to the gloom.

Britain's biggest supermarket recorded a like-for-like sales fall of 3.7% as Mr Clarke said it continued to face a challenging environment and expected further difficulties over coming quarters. Tesco, like its rivals, is facing a squeeze from discounters Aldi and Lidl and latest industry figures show its market share has declined steeply.

It has responded by investing in price cuts on "the products that matter most" - and Mr Clarke said sales volumes had risen 28% in these areas. The retailer is also in the midst of a "refresh" programme to update stores.

Mr Clarke said: "Our accelerated plans are making a real difference for customers and we are more competitive than we have been for many years."

But he warned that the programme was continuing to disrupt like-for-like sales performance.

Mr Clarke added: "We are pleased by the early response to our accelerated efforts to deliver the most compelling offer for customers. We expect this acceleration to continue to impact our headline performance throughout the coming quarters and for trading conditions to remain challenging for the UK grocery market as a whole."