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Non-food growth eases at Tesco

10.06.08 Alison Flood

Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy said the business has coped well with the "more cautious mood" on non-food spending in the thirteen weeks to 24th May. Group sales over the period were up 13.7%, with non-food seeing "strong market share gains", Tesco said in a trading statement this morning.

Total UK sales were up 9.4%, with like-for-like sales excluding petrol up 3.5%. Tesco said that although its food category performance "has been good", its rate of growth in non-food has eased "as consumers have become more cautious with their spending during recent months". But it added: "Our strong competitive position has meant that our non-food growth has remained significantly stronger than the wider market."

Leahy said: "We've made a good start to the financial year thanks to the growing breadth of the group and the strength of the Tesco business model - this has been achieved despite the more uncertain economic environment... Core food categories showed good growth as we helped customers spend less at a time when household budgets are becoming stretched. The business has also coped well with the more cautious mood on non-food spending."

Retail tesco Alison Flood

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