Tesco first-half profits slide despite signs of improvement

A 55 per cent plunge came despite signs that Tesco has started to stem losses

Tesco has had to slash prices to try and entice customers back from German discount chains

Tesco has said that its earnings in the first half of 2015 were £345 million, less than half last year’s £779 million, marking another troubled few months for the supermarket.

The 55 per cent plunge came despite signs that Tesco has started to stem losses. Like-for-like sales were down 1.3 per cent in the six months to August 29 – less than the 4.6 per cent losses of last year.

Tesco has had to slash prices to try and entice customers back from German discount chains Aldi and Lidl after it recorded the worst results in its history in February. That has involved over 500 price reduction on key products as well as reducing the number of products Tesco sells in store.

Dave Lewis, chief executive, has also put Tesco’s focus on the UK by selling off the company’s Korea business. But he will still have to deal with a pensions deficit and the living wage. In a statement, he said that Tesco needed to do more with less. “We have concluded our portfolio review with the sale of Homeplus, our business in Korea, enabling us to take a significant step forward on our priority of strengthening the balance sheet,” Lewis said.