Q1 Trading Statement 2024/25
CONTINUED MOMENTUM – GAINING MARKET SHARE & GROWING VOLUMES.
Sales performance (exc. VAT, exc. fuel) for the 13 weeks ended 25 May 2024:
| Sales (£m) | LFL sales change | ||
| UK & ROI | 14,330 | 3.6% | |
| UK | 11,368 | 4.6% | |
| ROI | 731 | 4.4% | |
| Booker | 2,231 | (1.3)% | |
| Central Europe | 975 | 0.6% | |
| Retail | 15,305 | 3.4% |
Ken Murphy, Chief Executive:
“We’ve continued to build momentum in the business, with strong volume growth across the UK, Republic of Ireland and Central Europe supported by easing inflation. We continue to be the cheapest full-line grocer and are the most competitive we’ve ever been, with our value, product quality and service driving better brand perception and customer satisfaction. Our market share reflects this, growing more than at any other time in the past two years, with customers switching to us from other retailers, shopping with us more often and with more in their baskets.
We are looking forward to helping our customers celebrate a great summer of sport. We recently launched more than 100 new and exciting own brand products, including our Finest Dine In summer menu, based on classic pub dishes, and improved our Picnic & Deli, BBQ and Sweet Treat ranges. Tesco Finest growth was particularly strong in the quarter as customer perception of the quality of our products continues to improve.
Following another strong quarter, we’re pleased to reiterate our guidance for the full year, with sales trends in line with our expectations and the business well-positioned for the months ahead.”
Performance highlights1.
UK: Strong market share performance and strengthening volumes
| • | Market share growing ahead of all key competitors, up +52bps to 27.6%2, supported by 15 consecutive periods of positive switching gains3 |
| • | Food sales up +5.0%, including strong volume growth across the quarter, particularly in fresh food; non-food sales up +0.7%, driven by strong growth in clothing |
| • | Cheapest of the full-line grocers for 19 consecutive periods4 through powerful combination of Aldi Price Match on c.700 lines, Low Everyday Prices, with >1,000 prices locked, and Clubcard Prices |
| • | Growth in all channels; online sales up +8.9%, driven by volume growth and strong contribution from Whoosh |
| • | Finest sales continue to grow strongly, up +12.5%; net switching gains from premium retailers for 22 periods3 |
| • | Ongoing investment in colleague hours supporting further improvement in brand perception, customer satisfaction5 and availability, which is up +1.5ppts year-on-year to 95.9% |
ROI: Fourth consecutive quarter of volume growth drives further market share gains
| • | Continued growth in market share, up +59bps6, with 18 consecutive periods of positive switching gains7 |
| • | Growth in all channels; food sales up +5.1%, with fresh volumes particularly strong, supported by investment in the fresh proposition |
Booker: Continued underlying growth in core retail & catering following exceptional performance last year
| • | Core retail* sales up +1.0%, with further improvements in availability and 204 net new retail partners |
| • | Core catering* sales up +2.2%, with new Fareham DC supporting increased capacity and volumes |
| • | Overall sales decline of (1.3)% reflects continued tobacco market decline and weakness in parts of the fast-food market serviced by Best Food Logistics; performance also reflects strength of prior year comparatives |
| • | Recent acquisition of Venus Wine and Spirit Merchants PLC strengthens on-trade premium drinks offer |
CE: Sales growth driven by strengthening food volumes
| • | Positive customer response to sustained price investment supporting growing food volumes, up +2.8% |
| • | Customer NPS growing ahead of the market in Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic8 |
* Booker ‘Core retail’ refers to retail excluding tobacco sales; ‘Core catering’ refers to catering sales excluding Best Food Logistics
Contacts.
| Investor Relations: | Chris Griffith | 01707 940 900 |
| Media: | Christine Heffernan | 0330 6780 639 |
| Teneo | 0207 4203 143 |