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Supermarket Tesco (LON:TSCO) saw its shares fall by 9.16% to 213.65p (as of 12:50 BST) after statutory operating profits for the first half dropped by 6.5% to £819 million. Revenues for the first six months of the year were up by 12% at £31.7 billion, but exceptional items including those related to the company’s properties weighed down operating profits.
Chief executive Dave Lewis said: “We have made a good start to the year. The step up in Q2 is driven mainly by the UK & ROI and delivers our eleventh consecutive quarter of growth.
“At the same time, we have made further strategic progress. We completed our merger with Booker in March and are delighted with performance so far. We announced a strategic alliance with Carrefour in July which goes live this month. And we are now more than half-way through the biggest own brand re-launch in our nearly 100-year history, including a significant investment in over 300 new ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ products at market-leading prices.
“We are firmly on track to deliver our medium-term ambitions and are continuing to improve the quality and value of our offer for customers in all of our markets. In doing so, we are well-positioned to deliver strong, sustainable returns for shareholders“.