Chief executive of Tesco Ken Murphy says the company is “laser-focused” on keeping costs down for customers, as the company’s preliminary results for 2021/22 released today (13th April) show profits have tripled.
The supermarket chain has reported pre-tax profits of £2.03 billion, up from £636 million in 2020/2021. Group sales, excluding fuel, rose by 2.5% to £54.8 billion, while in the UK, retail sales rose by 2.3% year-on-year.
The company expects retail adjusted operating profit of between £2.4 billion and £2.6 billion for the 2022/23 financial year. However, the report has warned of “significant uncertainties in the external environment” that could influence its current prediction.
Three key factors that Tesco says are likely to affect the company’s performance:
- the extent of further normalisation in customer behaviour as the country comes out of the Covid-19 pandemic
- the level of cost inflation the company experiences and its ability to partially offset this through accelerating its ‘Save to Invest’ scheme
- the investment required to maintain the strength of Tesco’s price position relative to the market
‘Keeping costs in check’
Ken Murphy said: “Clearly, the external environment has become more challenging in recent months. Against a tough backdrop for our customers and with household budgets under pressure, we are laser-focused on keeping the cost of the weekly shop in check – working in close partnership with our suppliers, as well as doing everything we can to reduce our own costs.”
