Tesco profits slump 6%

Tesco Group has reported a 6% fall in group trading profit to £3.3bn as it continues to lose market share to its competitors, primarily the German discounters.

Like-for-like sales fell by 1.4%, while trading profit was down 3.6% to £2.2bn in the group’s key UK market.

Irish sales were down 5.5% for the full year, with sales in the second half of the year deteriorating by 8.1% in Q3 and 6.4% in Q4.

These results come as Tesco continues to lose market share in Ireland. It declined by 6.6% for the first 12 weeks of 2014 compared to the same period last year.