Tesco, the British retailing group which bought the Quinnsworth/Crazy Price chain last year, has promised to increase the amount it buys from Irish companies each year to almost £1,000 million by 2002.
Tesco, which has been severely criticised for its approach to Irish suppliers, said yesterday it had given a commitment to increase its trade with Irish companies from £692 million per annum now to £997 million within five years.
Tesco also maintained that no Irish products have been deleted from the company's range since it purchased the chain for £630 million a year ago.
Operating profits for Ireland, North and South, were £56.4 million last year, which Tesco said was ahead of the previous year by between 5 and 10 per cent.
The company, which published its annual results yesterday, would not give a separate breakdown for profits in the Republic's operations.
Sales have increased by 4.5 per cent since the takeover and lag slightly behind sales growth in Britain which ran at 6.1 per cent.
The results show combined sales for the group's Irish operations of £1.1 billion sterling (£1.26 billion) for the 43 weeks under review.
Sales in the North where the group has 32 stores, totalled around £260 million sterling.
Tesco managing director Mr Maurice Pratt, who admitted that the group has made errors, especially over banning Irish beef in Britain, said they were happy with the Irish operations' performance. He said it had been a year of two halves - the company had spent the first six months learning the business and starting refurbishment of stores.
In the latter part of the year the Clubcard was launched and sales in the Republic were now running at about 10 per cent ahead of last year. When two new stores - Bloomfields in Dun Laoghaire and Tesco in Athlone - are included the figures rose to 7.7 per cent for the year.
Overall Tesco believes it has increased its market share from 19.3 per cent to 19.5 per cent during the last year. In the North it has a 33 per cent share of the market. Sales in the North increased by 4.3 per cent.
Tesco says it will create 2,200 new jobs over the next three years. The majority of these will be full-time equivalents and will bring total employment to 10,500. Of the projected 2,200 jobs, 600 are already in place at Athlone and Bloomfields.
Tesco is also spending £75 million refurbishing stores. To date 10 stores have been relaunched as Tesco outlets - there are 78 stores in the Republic.
Mr Pratt said the launch of the Clubcard had been a success and now had 630,000 members. It had also helped to win back business, he said.
Mr Pratt said Tesco was planning for substantial growth in the total Tesco business with the Irish supply base.
He said it represents an unparalleled commitment by anyone company to the Irish manufacturing industry. He also pointed out that Irish industry would have to grow its capacity to meet this demand.
Enterprise and Employment Minister, Ms Harney welcomed Tesco's commitment and said she would continue to monitor the group's performance against their targets to ensure that the Irish supply base is given every opportunity to achieve their potential."
Overall, the group's profits grew by 10.9 per cent to a record £832 million on sales up 18.7 per cent at £17.8 billion sterling, including first-time contributions from acquired businesses in Ireland, writes Sebastian Taylor in London. Shares in Tesco dipped 8p to 589p despite the record results.
Although the figures were ahead of analysts forecasts, chief executive Terry Leahy spoiled the party by warning that sales growth is slowing down in the new 1998-99 trading period.
