Tesco reported rising sales for the seventh quarter in a row on Wednesday, with like-for-like sales up just over 2 percent.
Pre-tax profit rose to £562 million for the first half of the year, an impressive boost from the £71 million recorded in the same period last year.
However analysts and investors were disappointed with the 2.1 percent rise in like-for-like sales, which was down 0.2 percent from the figure recorded over the previous period. Shares in Tesco opened higher when the results were first announced, but have since fallen into the red.
The supermarket’s CEO Dave Lewis said the results showed Tesco was “very firmly back on track”, adding that “Sales are up, profits are up, cash generation continues to strengthen and net debt levels are less than half what they were when we started our turnaround three years ago”.
Shares are currently trading down 1.32 percent at 187.55 (0953GMT).
