Tesco Raises Profit Forecast as Online and Finest Sales Grow
Tesco raised its annual profit forecast on 8 October 2026, saying it now expects underlying annual profits of between £3.15bn and £3.3bn, up from at least £3bn. The Guardian
For the first six months of its financial year, sales were up 2% to £33.8bn. Underlying profit, which means profit from normal trading without one-off items, rose 6.5% to £1.8bn.
Growth was concentrated in UK retail and higher-value channels. Sales at established UK stores rose 1.5%. Online sales were up 8%. Revenues from its premium own-label Finest range rose 9%.
Its Booker wholesale arm, which sells in bulk to other shops and businesses, moved in the opposite direction. Sales there fell 2.6%.
Tesco said consumer confidence stayed relatively resilient despite uncertainty linked to geopolitical tensions. The results were published on the date Tesco had listed in its financial calendar for its Interim Results announcement 2026/27. Tesco
Tesco operates thousands of stores across the UK, Republic of Ireland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, across online, hypermarkets and convenience stores. Tesco It sells food and groceries as well as F&F Home and Clothing. The group also tested a meal-planning AI assistant with 280,000 staff from April before launching it for customers in September.
The new guidance sits at the top end of the range Tesco set out in its Preliminary Results 2025/26, when it expected adjusted operating profit, a similar clean measure of trading profit, of between £3.0bn and £3.3bn for the 2026/27 financial year.
That outlook follows incremental upgrades. For full-year 2025/26, Tesco expected adjusted operating profit of between £2.9bn and £3.1bn. Reuters Its Interim Results Trading Statement for 2025/26, published on 2 October 2025, reported revenue excluding VAT and including fuel of £36,036m against £34,773m, up 3.6%, with operating profit of £1,603m against £1,612m, down 0.6%, and profit before tax of £1,305m against £1,392m, down 6.3%.
In October 2024, Tesco reported a 10% rise in first-half core profit before lifting its annual profit forecast to around £2.9bn. Reuters That update included Q2 underlying sales growth of 3.5%. A year earlier, in the first half reported in October 2023, its retail adjusted operating profit was £1.42bn, ahead of analysts' average forecast of £1.35bn. Reuters
The broader context here is a grocer managing two pressures at once. Strength in online and Finest points to customers still spending where convenience or perceived quality matters. Softness in Booker points to a weaker wholesale and independent-retail market. For specialists, that split matters more than the headline.
Looking to the next two quarters, the question is durability. A 6.5% first-half rise leaves room for the upgraded range. Whether it holds will depend on UK store volumes, continued premium own-label demand, and whether wholesale steadies. The AI rollout, piloted with staff before customers, points to focus on basket-building tools as well as price.
