Tesco issues Budget tax warning - despite making profits of more than £100 a second
Britain's biggest supermarket has been accused of "corporate greed" after revealing a bumper profit haul
Tesco has warned Labour against hitting firms with tax hikes despite raking in profits of more tha £100 a second.
The supermarket giant was accused of “corporate greed” as it upped its full-year profit forecast after making £1.67billion in the past six months.
That was in spite of April’s much-criticised rise in employers’ national insurance contributions. Shareholders were rewarded with a £314million half-year dividend.
Ken Murphy, boss of Tesco, urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to deliver a Budget next month that was “pro-growth and pro-jobs.” He added: “Don’t make it harder for industry to delivery value for customers”, adding “enough is enough.”
But Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite, said: “As millions of workers struggle to put food on the table, Tesco is raking in huge amounts of cash and paying out whopping dividends to shareholders.”
She added: “It is time the Labour government stops being missing in action when it comes to tackling profiteering. Workers must no longer pay the price for corporate greed.”
Asked why it was not reducing prices further, Mr Murphy said “our job is to look after all stakeholders”. He also insisted its price inflation was “well below” the industry average, with big savings for its Clubcard customers.
Tesco’s better-than-expected half-year results - fuelled by winning customers from rivals, cost savings and the fine weather - prompted it to increase the group’s annual profit target to between £2.9billion and £3.1billion. It had said in April it expected profits to fall as it set aside cash to deal with a price cuts from rival Asda.
Tesco, whose market share has grown this year to 28.4%, saw UK half-year sales rise by 4.9%, having been up 5.1% in the first quarter. Sales across Tesco as a whole reached more than £33billion.
Chief executive Mr Murphy said: “We have seen mixed sentiment among customers. They are concerned about the Budget and the economic outlook.” Despite that, he said the chain was “betting on a good Christmas. We have a lot of confidence in our strong offer.” He predicted the second half of its financial year could be “more intensive” in terms of competition from rivals.
Other highlights Tesco pointed to were more than 470 new products launched in the six months period, including over 300 in its Finest premium range.
Online was another stand out area, with sales up more than 11%. It was been using artificial intelligence to find the most efficient journey for every Tesco lorry and delivery van, removing around 100,000 miles per week.
