Commenting on last week’s Kantar Worldpanel figures, which put Dunnes Stores neck-and-neck with Tesco as holding the second biggest share of the Irish supermarket sector, Shore Capital has described Tesco as lagging behind the market.
Analysts for the firm noted that, Whilst undoubtedly better than it was both at a market and company level, Tesco Ireland continues to lose market share.
‘Indeed, we particularly admired the descriptive approach of local website joe.ie, which characterised Tesco Ireland's recent performance as no longer being the sole 'deputy', whilst SuperValu (Musgrave Group) remains 'the sheriff’' following the progression by local player Dunnes Stores to the joint No.2 market position.’
The statement went on to note that both local players and discounters are continuing to grow share in Ireland, with Dunnes Stores and its strong focus on ‘localness’ and an aggressive ‘hi-lo’ strategy seeing significant gains.
However, Shore Capital sees some positive news. The analysts added, ‘Tesco will reveal the full and accurate picture of its H1 financial performance through its interim results on 5th October 2016.
‘We expect the UK and the wider group to probably please on revenues, EBIT and cash generation. Furthermore, corporate, organisational and operational focus and simplicity are bearing fruit and promising more to come in our view.’
© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Jenny Whelan
