Tesco flags convenience as crucial to further growth

In the half year to 28 August Tesco group revenue increased 5.9% to £30.4bn compared to the same period last year and operating profit rose 28% to £1.3bn.

Ken Murphy, chief executive, said: “With various different challenges currently affecting the industry, the resilience of our supply chain and the depth of our supplier partnerships has once again been shown to be a key asset.”

In its interim statement the supermarket emphasised the importance of both online sales and its convenience stores.

Tesco’s annual online sales have now passed £6bn, partly as a result of the pandemic, but Tesco said it intends to continue increasing its online business.

The statement added: “We also have a strong presence in the second fastest growing food retail channel – convenience – with the combination of our 1,941 fully-owned Express convenience stores, our 710 owned and 233 franchised One Stop stores and our wholesale relationship with around 90,000 Booker retail customers.

“This gives us a strong platform from which to accelerate growth through capital-light opportunities to open new space and continuing to add new franchisees and symbol store operators, leaving us well-placed to benefit from the continuing trend towards more frequent top-up shopping.”

Tesco also confirmed that it is continuing One Stop’s partnership with Deliveroo.