As the supermarket price wars intensify, Tesco will be in the spotlight next week.
The country’s biggest grocer – which still commands more than a 27 per cent share of the market – has come under pressure from discounters Aldi and Lidl in recent years.
But it enjoyed a bumper Christmas when sales in the UK rose 6.8 per cent.
So investors will hope for a cheery set of annual results on Wednesday after it bumped up profit hopes in January. Boss Ken Murphy said the company is set to rake in £2.75billion in profits – an upgrade of £50m.
Shareholders will be keen to hear if momentum over the festive period carried on into the first few months of the year.
Tesco batted away accusations of greedflation last year as critics said it was cashing in while consumers struggled with price increases.
Anything Murphy says about what doing business in Britain is like at the moment will be closely watched ahead of a general election this autumn.
Broker AJ Bell said the City expects annual profits for the coming year to hit £3billion.
Sophie Lund-Yates at Hargreaves Lansdown warned that anything underwhelming about price reductions or market share could irk shareholders.
Shares fell 0.9 per cent to 289.6p.
