LONDON: Britain’s biggest retailer, supermarket giant Tesco, announced Wednesday a 42-percent jump in net profit in its first half on soaring online demand for food during the coronavirus outbreak.
Profit after tax jumped to £460 million ($585 million, 497 million euros) in the six months to the end of August, compared with £324 million a year earlier, Tesco said in a statement.
This came despite exceptional costs of £533 million in response to the pandemic, notably the creation of 16,000 jobs to meet the growing online demand.
Tesco’s operating profit dropped 4.5 percent to £1.0 billion, while group revenue climbed 6.6 percent to £26.7 billion.
Sales were fuelled by Britons increasingly switching from Tesco’s largest stores to having their groceries delivered.