Tesco Maintains Guidance — Reports Strong Christmas Sales

Despite dipping in the early part of Thursday's session, Tesco (LON: TSCO) shares are now up on the day after it posted a third quarter and Christmas trading statement, reaffirming its guidance.

Like rivals Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer, the UK supermarket giant also reported strong sales over the holiday period despite worries regarding inflation and how it would impact consumer spending.

In its FY22/23 guidance, the company said it expects retail adjusted operating profit of between £2.4 billion and £2.5 billion with retail free cash flow of at least £1.8 billion and bank adjusted operating profit from £120 million to £160 million.

Tesco said that its UK & ROI third-quarter like-for-like (LFL) sales rose 5.2%, while like-for-like sales over the Christmas period increased by 7.8%. For the 19 weeks ended January 7, LFL sales grew 6.1%.

Tesco said it maintained a strong market share in the UK at 27.5%, stating it is the only full-line grocer to increase market share compared to pre-pandemic.

Group sales, which includes the UK & ROI, Booker Group, and Central Europe, increased 5.7% in Q3 and 7.9% over Christmas.

Tesco put its strong performance down to the focus on value and quality, with particular strength in fresh food. Meanwhile, it pointed to its Aldi Price Match as continuing to provide great value to customers.

In its banking segment, sales were up 14.6%, driven by an increase in credit card spending and money services transactions, with the company saying customer behaviour continues to normalise post-pandemic.

Tesco shares are up 0.3% at the time of writing.