Tesco raises outlook and will buy back shares after strong first half

Online sales now represent 8% of total sales in Ireland

The supermarket giant said like-for-like sales fell by 6.1% in Ireland in the first quarter reflecting the impact of stockpiling in the prior year.

Tesco raised its full-year outlook as it reported a 16.6% rise in first-half core retail profit and increased sales despite labour and supply chain disruption and tough Covid-19 related comparisons a year ago.

The group said on Wednesday its strong first-half performance had enabled it to reduce net debt by £1.7bn (€2bn) since February, and it would therefore use cash for a share buyback, with the first tranche of 500 million pounds in shares to be bought by October 2022.