Tesco’s Irish operation saw its sales decline by 4.4% in Q1 2015/16 (excl VAT and fuel), according to an interim management statement filed this morning.
The decline, however, is not as steep as in the same period last year (Q1 2014/15: 5.6%), or indeed for any quarter of last year.
In its statement, Tesco said that it has “made a significant investment in lower prices for our customers in the Republic of Ireland with prices now frozen across more than 1,300 staple products.
“This corresponded to an improvement in our like-for-like sales performance against the previous quarter, although this was still held back by a difficult competitive environment including high levels of competitor couponing.”
Tesco group sales for the period to 30 May 2015 declined by (0.5)% at constant rates, excluding fuel. At actual rates, sales declined by (1.0)% excluding fuel.
In a statement, analysts Bernstein Research said, “Republic of Ireland saw some sequential improvement (-4.4% in Q1 compared to -6.7% in Q4), but there is much work to.
“The Republic of Ireland has many of the same competitive characteristics as the UK (strong discount sector, negative food inflation), and therefore will likely benefit from many of the same tactics.”
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
