Tesco has seen a rise in its pre-tax profits to £1.4 billion for the first half of its financial year and declared it “solid”.
The supermarket giant recorded total sales of more than £1bn a week at £30.4bn as it saw pre-tax profits rise 1.5 per cent in the six months to August 29.
Tesco achieved slower growth than its rivals following continued attacks on its market share, as UK like-for-like sales rose 2.7 per cent in the UK.
The retailer's underlying profit before tax was £1.6bn, up 8.6 per cent and slightly ahead of market expectations.
Tesco said sales were "solid" but said this was "despite competitive market conditions and the backdrop of a weak economy".
Its recent enhancement of its Clubcard rewards have paid off as Tesco said it had seen a "significant improvement" in performance in that area.
Sales including VAT rose 2.8 per cent to £20.7bn, but this was much slower than the 10 per cent growth seen last year as weaker inflation and the economic downturn hit the figures.
Finance director Laurie McIlwee said Tesco’s like-for-like figures look less impressive due to falling inflation as last year commodity prices were high.
McIlwee said Tesco had now started to see its sales figures run at around the same rate as the rest of the industry.
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