Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco has said that they are doing all they can “to drive down food bills.”
Tesco have improved their profit guidance due to “strong” sales and have benefited from investment pricing with customers switching from “premium retailers.”
The supermarket chain has cut prices on 2,500 products and Tesco have also said that food inflation will fall further.
Excluding VAT and fuel, in the six months to August group sales grew by 8.9% to £30.75 billion compared to the same period in 2022.
Adjusted operating profit was up by 14% to £1.48 billion in the six months to September, and Tesco now expects adjusted operating profit between £2.6 billion and 2.7 billion of 2023.
Murphy said: “We are committed to doing everything we can to drive down food bills and Tesco is now consistently the cheapest full-line grocer.
“This relentless focus on customers, combined with significant cost reductions from our ‘save to invest’ programme, has driven our strong performance in the first half of the year.
“Food inflation fell across the half, and while external pressures remain we expect that it will continue to do so in the second half of the year.
“We are in a strong position to keep investing for customers, and will continue to lower prices wherever we can – doing everything in our power to make sure customers can have a fantastic, affordable Christmas by shopping at Tesco.”
Richard Lim, chief executive at Retail Economics, said: “These results are mightily impressive.
“Their relentless focus on value has delivered strong growth while the significant bounceback in profitability will be a cause of attention.
“Many shoppers are prioritising cost above everything else, trading down to cheaper alternatives and searching out the best bargains.”
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