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).

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.

Looking better!

Is that you skinny topping up another cool 2m shares

As predicted Jack's doing little to stop Tesco losing market share to Aldi and Lidl. The board must be extremely worried.

Trading Statement Thursday 10th.

3Q and Christmas Trading Statement 18/19

Headlines (3Q: 13 weeks to 24 November 2018; Christmas period: 6 weeks to 5 January 2019)

· UK & ROI: Strong Christmas benefiting from an increasingly competitive offer for customers

o UK & ROI Christmas LFL sales +2.6%, outperforming market in UK in both volume and value terms

- Quality and value perception1 both up significantly year-on-year: +3.5pts and +4.5pts respectively
- Market outperformance in all key categories: food, clothing and general merchandise

o UK & ROI 3Q LFL sales +1.9% reflecting transition to new own brands and subsequent resetting of mix in UK
- 'Exclusively at Tesco' roll-out 95% complete by end-3Q, with 82% of customers buying into the range

o Booker delivering strong growth (LFL excl. tobacco: 3Q 10.7%; Christmas 8.2%); contract wins last year annualise early in Christmas period

· Central Europe: Continuing to improve the quality of our business

o Excluding Poland, LFL sales increased in 19-week period, with +1.1% LFL for Christmas

o 19-week LFL performance is after impact of reducing unprofitable general merchandise (c.(1.8)% impact) and fewer trading days in Poland due to Sunday trading regulations (c.(1.2)%)

o Polish store portfolio reshaping continuing with 14 stores closed during the period and 32 more planned

· Asia: Stronger underlying performance

o LFL performance reflects further changes to pricing, promotions and couponing in Thailand

o Good progress made with suppliers towards new commercial approach

o Restructured store operations, reducing costs and underpinning profit recovery.

more.....