Tesco’s latest results have revealed pre-tax profits of £1.3 billion for the year to 24 February, up from £145 million for the previous year, as UK like-for-like sales rose 2.2 per cent.

This came on the back of innovations like the introduction of a contactless Clubcard, which was rolled out to 18 million Clubcard members during the period.

A statement from the supermarket chain read that it remains “firmly on track” to deliver the medium-term ambitions set out in October 2016: to reduce costs by £1.5 billion, to generate £9 billion of retail cash from operations and to improve operating margins to between 3.5 and 4 per cent by 2019/20.

Chief executive Dave Lewis pointed out that the group has seen nine consecutive quarters of growth.

“We have further improved profitability, with group operating margin reaching 3 per cent in the second half,” he said. “We are generating significant levels of cash and net debt is down by almost £6bn over the last three years.”

Danielle Pinnington, managing director at shopper research agency Shoppercentric, commented that a change in approach from Tesco seems to be paying off.

“That said, they’ve had a couple of recent slips that have kept social media busy: the proposed changes to Clubcard was not well received by loyal shoppers, nor was the meal deal shrinkflation which hit stores in this last week,” she continued, adding: “they need to be mindful that shoppers have so many easily accessible alternatives to Tesco.”

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