Dave Lewis, chief executive, said: “This has been another year of strong progress, with the ninth consecutive quarter of growth. More people are choosing to shop at Tesco and our brand is stronger, as customers recognise improvements in both quality and value”
The announcement marks a steady turnaround in Tesco’s fortunes, since its 2014 pre-tax loss of £6.4bn – its worst results in its history – and continued poor results due to a long period of over-expansion and an accounting scandal fine.
The results cement the turnaround steered by CEO Dave Lewis, who has lead a massive overhaul of the business, selling off overseas divisions, cutting thousands of management jobs and slashing prices in a bid to lure back customers.
Tesco has also in-part credited the popularity of its own-brand food, which chalked up like-for-like sales growth of 4.2% during the year. It also revamped 10,000 products, starting with its ready meals.
Central to Tesco’s new strategy, is the £3.7bn acquisition of Booker, which took place last month. Expected synergies from the merger reach an estimated £60m within the first year, growing to around £140m by the second year, and reaching £300m each year by the end of the third year.