Tesco has increased its profit guidance to between £3.15bn and £3.3bn (from £3bn and £3.3bn) following a strong interim set of results for the first half of financial year 2026/27.
Sales grew 2% year-on-year from £33,51m to £33,776m. Adjusted profit after tax increased 6.3% from £1,674m to £1,783m.
Operating profit across the UK and ROI was up 6% to £1,157. Tesco Group highlighted growth drivers in the form of both its on-demand service Tesco Whoosh and its retail media network Tesco Media, stating that these helped offset investment into its customer offering and operating cost inflation.
Digital channels central to growth
In his statement on the results, Tesco CEO Ken Murphy placed Tesco’s digital growth at the heart of its success. “Our digital channels are important growth drivers for Tesco, with online sales growing 8% in the half,” he said. “We are complementing our leading position in grocery home shopping with strong growth in Whoosh, up 37% in the half and on track to deliver sales of over £500m this year. Our recent partnerships with Uber Eats and Deliveroo are further extending our unique rapid delivery reach, and our new F&F website is helping even more customers discover and shop our full range of clothing.”
He added: “We are also making strong progress on AI-enabled personalisation, extending Your Clubcard Prices and beginning the customer rollout of our meal planning assistant, helping customers manage their busy lives. Tesco Media grew strongly in the half, attracting new advertisers and offering improved analytics and automation through an enhanced self-service platform.”
Record customer satisfaction
Tesco results reflect both its scale as Britain’s largest supermarket and its agility in launching, growing and monetising new revenue channels such as on-demand groceries and retail media. However, it also recorded record rates of customer satisfaction, and going forward, it is not taking its eye off the basics: it has stated that it wants to deliver “the very best value, quality, range, and innovation in food”, adding that delivering this affordably “underpins our whole business”.
In the supermarket landscape, Tesco remains the one to beat. From rapid delivery and retail media to AI-powered personalisation, the grocer is showing how digital maturity can translate directly into growth.
Stay informed
Our editor carefully curates two newsletters a week filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research. Click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter sent straight to your inbox. Why not follow us on LinkedIn to receive the latest updates on our research and analysis?
