Tesco is set to continue its international expansion, Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, has revealed.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Sir Terry said: “Nothing is static about international retailing and we will steadily add new countries but not at a rapid rate.”
“The important thing is to stay strong through that process and not break the business on a rush forwards or on some ill-considered acquisition,” he added.
He also admitted that he had looked at the possibility of an entry into the US market but had not found a suitable opportunity as yet, and was also interested in India.
“We have got lots to work on because this new batch of countries obviously have much larger populations and it is very early days,” he said.
And in its UK operations, speaking about the Office of Fair Trading’s decision to reconsider its decision not to investigate the grocery market, Sir Terry said that it was up to the customer to decide whether there were competition issues.
“I always feel the customer is the best judge of these things. The important thing is that customers have a choice and they do exercise that choice.”
“There’s plenty of competition in the UK. Competing against Sainbury and Asda and Waitrose is every bit as tough as competing against Wal-Mart and Carrefour,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tesco is set to release its third-quarter results on Friday (November 25). Analysts are predicting like-for-like sales of 6% and its international operations to grow by a fifth.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Sir Terry said: “Nothing is static about international retailing and we will steadily add new countries but not at a rapid rate.”
“The important thing is to stay strong through that process and not break the business on a rush forwards or on some ill-considered acquisition,” he added.
He also admitted that he had looked at the possibility of an entry into the US market but had not found a suitable opportunity as yet, and was also interested in India.
“We have got lots to work on because this new batch of countries obviously have much larger populations and it is very early days,” he said.
And in its UK operations, speaking about the Office of Fair Trading’s decision to reconsider its decision not to investigate the grocery market, Sir Terry said that it was up to the customer to decide whether there were competition issues.
“I always feel the customer is the best judge of these things. The important thing is that customers have a choice and they do exercise that choice.”
“There’s plenty of competition in the UK. Competing against Sainbury and Asda and Waitrose is every bit as tough as competing against Wal-Mart and Carrefour,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tesco is set to release its third-quarter results on Friday (November 25). Analysts are predicting like-for-like sales of 6% and its international operations to grow by a fifth.
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