Analyst Note
| Ioannis Pontikis |Tesco announced third-quarter results for fiscal 2023 with sales up 6.4% on a one-year like-for-like basis (up 5.7% in the third quarter and 7.9% during Christmas), with U.K. and Ireland sales up 5.3%. Management reiterated guidance for the year. Booker remains a strong contributor, with like-for-like sales growth at 10% (partially reflecting the benefit of lapping lockdown impacts), which along with Central Europe (up 10.9%) were the standout performers for the group. This is a strong set of numbers and in-line with J Sainsbury's performance for the same period reported a day before (Sainsbury's grocery sales up 5.6%). Tesco maintained retail profit guidance of GBP 2.4 billion-GBP 2.5 billion (versus GBP 2.58 billion in our model) for the year.