Tesco stays on recovery trail, fashion helps

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 11, 2018

Tesco seems to be firmly in recovery mode and on Wednesday the company said that its year to February 24 saw operating profit up 28.4% to £1.64 billion before exceptional items and fashion helped drive that figure higher. Group sales rose 2.3% to £51 billion and UK comparable sales rose 2.2%.

Importantly too, it also reported a stronger performance in general merchandise. That comes after it continued to refine its GM range, reducing SKUs by 16% as it focused on categories with more sustainable profitability.  

This helped clothing perform “well throughout the year with like-for-like sales growth of 2.6%, reflecting the strength of the F&F brand and quality of our range.” Clearly, fashion outperformed other categories at the chain.

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That said, Tesco doesn’t talk about its fashion offer as much as rivals Sainsbury’s and Asda do, but it’s clear that F&F regains a key part of its proposition and the company continues to back it with major ad campaigns.

It also delivered 2.7% sales growth in the home category, following the launch of its new proprietary Go Cook and Fox & Ivy ranges. These new brands have driven a 14% and 20% increase in customers to its cook and homeware ranges, respectively.