TescoÂ’s interim pre-tax profit has jumped 13.3% but said it was seeing a return to a more normal level of trading in the UK with like-for-like sales slowing to 3.9%.

The retailer said pre-tax profit for the six months to August 24 rose to £545m up from £481m last time, on a sales increase of 10.6% to £12.7bn Â- of which £2.3bn resulted from international operations Â- up 32%.

UK sales total rose by 6.8% to £10.5bn as Tesco opened 37 new stores and revamped 60 in the first half. A further 1.5 million sq ft of selling space is to be opened this year.

Tesco said it plans to create 9000 jobs in the UK out of a worldwide total of 21,000 new staff by the end of the year.

Sales at the online shopping service of Tesco.com rose 27% to £186m and now has some 85,000 weekly orders in the UK, saw its sales rise by 27% to £186m. It made a profit of £1.9m,

Chief Executive Sir Terry Leahy said: “These results show that we are delivering our programme for long term growth. The four elements of our strategy remain the same Â- a strong UK core, non-food growth, retailing services and international expansion.”

Topics