Tesco is one of the worlds leading international retailers. Since the company first the trading name of Tesco, in the mid 1920s, the group has expanded into different formats, different markets and different sectors. The UKs leading retailer Tesco was floated on the stock exchange in 1947 and in 1995 took over rival Sainsburys position as the UK number one. The principal activity of the group is food retailing, with over 2,000 stores worldwide. Tesco has a long term strategy for growth, based on four key parts: growth in the Core UK business, to expand by growing internationally, to be as strong in non-food as in food and to follow customers into new retailing services. The company launched a home shopping service in 2000, allowing customers to order their shopping online. Tesco is now expanding its convenience stores and overseas into areas such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Poland, the US and Ireland.

Upper graph = 12 month share price with 6 month moving average
Lower graph = 12 month volume (red line = volume average).

Staggering the quote from above , the huge pension deficit,


"We expect an update from the result of the triennial actuarial pension review. The accounting pension deficit increased materially from £3.2bn to £5.9bn at the interim
results last year," said Deutsche, assuming no change in the currently agreed £270m per annum contribution to reduce the deficit

Positive sales2 and profit3 growth, strong cash5 generation
· Group sales2 up 3.3% to £25.2bn - seventh consecutive quarter of growth

· UK like-for-like sales7 up 2.2%; transactions up 0.4%; volumes8 up 0.3%

· Strong fresh food volume growth in the UK of 1.5% driven by ongoing improvements in our offer

· Group operating profit before exceptional items3 up 27.3% to £759m; UK & ROI up 21.1% to £471m

· Group operating margin3 up to 2.7% from 2.2% last year; on track for 3.5-4.0% ambition by 2019/20

· Improved profit margin in Central Europe (up 132 basis points) and in Asia (up 146 basis points)

· Retail operating cash flow5 up 19.3% to £1.1bn; Retail free cash flow5 of £586m

· Triennial pension review concluded; annual contributions to increase by £15m to £285m from April 2018

· Interim dividend of 1.0p per share reflects improved performance and Board confidence
· Statutory revenue up 3.7% to £28.3bn; Profit before tax up £491m to £562m
Further progress against each of our six strategic drivers
· Brand health9 continues to strengthen; voted 'Britain's favourite supermarket' for 3rd consecutive year10

· Further cost savings of £259m achieved in 1H towards the £1.5bn medium-term target; £485m to date

· Generated £1.1bn of retail operating cash5; £237m underlying working capital11 inflow

· Improving the mix across geographies and channels; 1.6% like-for-like sales growth in our UK Extra format

· Released a further £175m value12 from property; 50 sites sold; 0.4m sq. ft. space re-purposed

· Innovations including launch of contactless Clubcard; nationwide roll-out of same day delivery service; further 807 new products introduced

Dave Lewis, Chief Executive:
"We are continuing to make strong progress. Sales are up, profits are up, cash generation continues to strengthen and net debt levels are less than half what they were when we started our turnaround three years ago. All of this is possible because of the focus we have placed on serving shoppers a little better every day. Our offer is more competitive and more customers are shopping at Tesco.
Today's announcement that we are resuming our dividend reflects our confidence that we can build on our strong performance to date and in doing so, create long-term, sustainable value for all of our stakeholders."

Serving Britain's shoppers a little better every day

Like-for-like sales performance7


1H
2016/17
2H
2016/17
FY
2016/17

1Q
2017/18
2Q
2017/18

1H
2017/18
UK & ROI
0.6%
1.1%
0.9%

2.2%
2.1%

2.1%
UK
0.6%
1.2%
0.9%

2.3%
2.1%

2.2%
ROI
0.2%
(0.4)%
(0.1)%

0.2%
2.0%

1.1%
Central Europe
2.0%
(0.1)%
0.9%

(0.4)%
0.6%

0.1%
Asia
3.2%
0.4%
1.8%

(6.0)%
(10.7)%

(8.3)%
Group
1.0%
0.9%
1.0%

1.0%
0.6%

0.8%

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Provisional Findings

Tesco PLC welcomes the announcement from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that it has given provisional unconditional clearance of our merger with Booker Group PLC.

We look forward to creating the UK's leading food business, bringing together our combined expertise in retail and wholesale. This merger has always been about growth, and will bring benefits for independent retailers, caterers, small businesses, suppliers, consumers, and colleagues.

We will continue to work with the CMA as it prepares the Final Report due by the end of December. We anticipate completion of the merger in early 2018.

Proactive investor -


Morrisons and Sainsbury's shares tank after Kantar reveals drop in market share
Share
15:20 12 Dec 2017
Grocery inflation reached its highest level since 2013 as a weaker pound pushed up import costs


Morrisons is the biggest faller on the FTSE 100
Shares in Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) and J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) plunged on Tuesday after industry data showed the supermarket chains both lost further market share in the 12 weeks to 3 December.
Tough competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to chip away at market share of the so-called ‘big four’ supermarkets during the period, while grocery inflation hit its highest level since 2013, Kantar Worldpanel revealed.
READ: J Sainsbury more at risk than peers from downturn in UK economy, reckons Jefferies
Morrisons’ market share fell to 10.6% from 10.8% the same period a year ago, despite sales rising 1.4% year-on-year.
Sainsbury’s market share dropped to 16.3% from 16.5% while sales edged up 2%.
Tesco was the best performing of the big four, with sales up 2.5% even as its market share fell to 28.2% from 28.3%.
Asda sales climbed 1.2% with market share dipping to 15.0% from 15.3%.
Aldi the fastest growing grocer
Aldi was the fastest growing grocer during the period with sales boosted by chilled food products, including ready meals and desserts.
Its market share rose to 6.9% from 6.2% and sales rose 15.1% as it continued to open more stores. 
Lidl’s market share increased to 5.1% from 6.2% and sales grew 14.5%.
Overall, UK grocery sales rose 3.1% despite the pressure of higher inflation on UK consumers.
Morrisons and Sainsbury's remnained the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 in late afternoon trading with their shares down 5.2% to 210p and 4.6% to 233.4p respecively, while Tesco shares were down 0.6% at 204.25p.
Grocery inflation highest level since 2013
Grocery inflation reached 3.6%, driven by price rises in butter, fish and fresh pork.
A sharp fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote last year has pushed import costs higher, putting a strain on supermarkets that have been trying to keep prices low to attract hard-hit customers in a competitive environment. 
But higher inflation did not stop consumers from spending money on alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks ahead of Christmas. 
“Alcohol sales are up by nearly £172mln compared to this time last year and while volume sales have increased, this impressive growth is mainly a result of consumers choosing more expensive festive tipples," said Fraser McKevit, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
“Gin, whisky and sparkling wine all saw significant growth: up by 26%, 10% and 7% respectively as shoppers pushed the boat out.”
"Still small but growing rapidly, non-alcoholic beer is the new kid on the block this Christmas – growing sales by 27% during the past 12 weeks.”
 -- Updates share prices --

The bank of Nova Scotia has taken a huge short position on Tesco's recovery.

StockMarketWire.com
Record Christmas sales at Tesco helped the supermarket post a like-for-like sales increase of 2.3% in the UK and Ireland in the third quarter.

Tesco saw its highest rate of market share growth in the Republic of Ireland for five years, with like-for-like sales up 3.5%.

In the UK, like-for-like sales growth of 1.9% was driven by a 3.4% rise in food offset by the ongoing drag from general merchandise and lost tobacco sales due to the Palmer & Harvey integration.

Tesco delivered its biggest ever week of sales in the key Christmas week itself. Fresh food outperformance in this week was nearly 4%.

Like-for-like sales in Central Europe increased by 0.6% whereas Asia like-for-like sales were down 11.1% because of Tesco's decision to withdraw from bulk selling activities in Thailand.

Tesco Bank sales grew by 4.8%.

Dave Lewis, chief executive, said: "We have continued to outperform the market throughout this period, particularly in fresh food, thanks to our most competitive offer for many years. Our trading momentum accelerated across the third quarter and into December, with the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day delivering record sales and volumes in the UK.

"Incorporating Palmer & Harvey volumes and complexity during this peak period was challenging, resulting in lost tobacco sales across December and putting further strain into our distribution network, particularly post-Christmas. Whilst I am pleased to say these challenges have now been resolved, they took the shine off an otherwise outstanding performance for the period as a whole."

Tesco said it is firmly on track to deliver the medium-term ambitions outlined in October 2016.

Barclays Capital Overweight 210.80 - 255.00 Resumes
05 Mar 18 Jefferies International Buy 210.80 - 250.00 Upgrades

Trying to breakout again.

Wonder what the price will do tomorrow morning when the 'possible' merger is officially announced between Sainsburys and Asda,gut feeling tells me the price could go down.

Looking for another assault on 252 ish.

StockMarketWire.com
Supermarket giant Tesco booked a small rise in first-half profit after rising sales were offset by one-off restructuring and store closure costs.

Pre-tax profit for the six months through 25 August rose 2.2% to £564m as revenue rose 11.8% to £31.7bn.

Sales were boosted by the acquisition of wholesaler Booker.

On a like-for-like basis, sales rose 2.2% following a 2.7% rise in the second quarter.

One-off costs included £57m related to the closure of Tesco Direct, £22m in restructuring and redundancy costs and a £16m fine owing to a cyber attack.

Operating profit before exceptional items and amortisation of acquired intangibles rose 23.9% to £933m.

Tesco declared an interim dividend of 1.67p per share, up 67% on-year.

'We have made a good start to the year,'chief executive Dave Lewis said.

'The step up in the second quarter is driven mainly by the UK and Ireland and delivers our eleventh consecutive quarter of growth.'

Lewis said he was 'delighted' with the performance of Booker since it was acquired in March.

'And we are now more than half-way through the biggest own brand re-launch in our nearly 100-year history, including a significant investment in over 300 new 'Exclusively at Tesco' products at market-leading prices,' he said.

'We are firmly on track to deliver our medium-term ambitions and are continuing to improve the quality and value of our offer for customers in all of our markets.'

'In doing so, we are well-positioned to deliver strong, sustainable returns for shareholders.'

Blimey - just gone long @216.72p

skinny-I will leave it for today and see what happens tomorrow but am tempted to do same

Yes - perhaps a bit premature!

Tesco shares hit as international pressures overshadow UK growth

Barclays Capital Overweight 214.10 280.00 - Reiterates

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 214.10 265.00 - Reiterates

Your 'long' is looking a bit precarious, skinny!

Do not think Tesco will perform well in the next couple of years. Aldi and the likes are gunning for them. Massive store opening programme as well. They are still sweeping up the sh-- Leahy left. I don't think they have a prayer. Where do you stop and Jack's to late. Aldi have award winning produce, will Jack's?

And closing their tesco direct stores to boot.