Tesco said today it was on target for record profits of £1.22 billion sterling despite a recent slowdown in sales growth and a further round of price cuts.
The company was updating the market ahead of a series of analyst meetings in the run-up to annual results on April 9th. In a statement it said management was confident of delivering results broadly in line with current forecasts.
The current consensus is for Tesco's profits to rise to £1.22 billion for the year ending February 2002, up from £1.054 billion sterling last year, which was the first time Tesco had broken the billion-pound barrier.
However, shares in Tesco slumped 1.2 per cent or 3 pence to 248 1/4p after a row broke out about its price-cutting claims.
Over the past 12 months, the stock has underperformed British sector peers by 6 per cent but outperformed the FTSE All Share by 9 per cent.