Tesco is expected to post record annual profits to the end of February of around £2.5 billion this week, adding yet more fuel to the debate that the retailer is too dominant in the UK grocery market.
The supermarket chain is expected to have generated £42bn of sales, a 7 per cent rise from the year-earlier period.
Tesco commands more than 31 per cent of the UK’s grocery scene, almost the same as rivals Asda and Sainsbury’s combined. A recent report has suggested that the retailer accounts for more than 50 per cent of supermarket sales in six areas of the country.
Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is expected to detract attention from dominance criticism by stressing the firm’s rapid expansion overseas as the reason for the record results. Tesco has opened nearly 400 stores in eastern Europe and Asia in the past year, including the first under the Tesco brand in Beijing. Its first US stores are now also up and running, under the Fresh & Easy banner.
Meanwhile, Leahy has been named the most influential unelected person in the UK by a Guardian Unlimited panel. Leahy joined Tesco as a marketing executive in 1979, and became chief executive in 1997 at the age of 40. Since then, store numbers have risen from 568 to 1,500.
The TUC’s Isobel Larkin, who sat on the panel, said: “His future influence and actions on the effects of climate change, globalisation of the UK workforce, ethical trading and suppliers who employ vulnerable workers will be critical in determining whether his nomination is a force for good or ill.”
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