‘New chapter’ for Tesco pledges bullish Philip Clarke

Clarke is to downsize his predecessor’s stores, scrutinise his US venture, Fresh & Easy, and kick-start a new era, leading a “digital revolution” in retail.

Clarke said: “We want to start a new chapter in the history of the company.”

The bullish boss said his initiatives to improve service by catapulting 8,000 extra staff into stores, improving counter services and reworking in-store signage had won custom.

He said: “We have only refreshed 10% of our stores in the first half, we have 90% to go. We are leading the renewal from the shopfloor, not from the boardroom.”

Tesco unveiled a 0.1% uplift in like-for-like sales in the second quarter on Wednesday, up from a 1.5% fall in the first quarter.

Despite an 11.6% fall in first-half trading profit, Clarke said he was “encouraged” by the early signs from his £1bn turnaround plan for the UK business, unveiled in April.

Clarke said the grocer is leading the way in the market with its grocery click-and-collect offer and is the largest online grocer.

He said: “Retail will end this decade looking very different and we are leading the digital revolution.”

Tesco is reducing its electricals and general merchandise offer in favour of a “food first” model.

Clarke said that Tesco will “downsize” the giant Extra stores, reduce the space devoted to non-food by up to 20% in some stores amid tough market conditions, and allocate it instead to partners such as restaurants. However, arch-rival Sainsbury’s said its non-food offer is growing at a pace of around three times that of food.

Sainsbury’s reported a 1.9% increase in like-for-like sales in the second quarter on Wednesday fuelled in part by its sponsorship of the Paralympics. Chief executive Justin King said: “The Olympics and Paralympics have lifted the public mood.”