Tesco has warned of an intensifying price battle in the run-up to Christmas amid “pressure on household budgets” but upped its full-year profit expectations by £100m after it grabbed market share and drew in more shoppers by keeping a lid on inflation over the summer.
The UK’s biggest retailer said it expected to make annual profits of up to £3.1bn, up from a previous maximum of £3bn, as it said efforts to cut the price of 6,500 items by an average of 9% had worked better than it predicted.