Tesco reports dip in profits

So Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, has announced today that its annual profits are down for the first time in twenty years. Its full-year pre-tax profits have more than halved.

Clearly I'd love it if this was down to a shift in our shopping habits following the horse meat scandal. But unfortunately, according to reports, it appears Tesco is blaming it largely on poor performance in its US stores, which it is now closing down.

The firm has confirmed it is winding up its US chain of 199 Fresh and Easy shops, which have never made a profit, at a cost of more than £1 billion.

However,Tesco said its online groceries business has been performing well. It's also been going through a restructure - hiring more staff and revamping some of its stores.

The supermarket revealed that it is taking a £800 million property writedown because it has decided to shelve plans to build large stores on more than 100 sites bought for development and concentrate instead on building its portfolio of smaller convenience stores and its online sales. Bad news for our local Chesterfield pub The Crispin which is currently fighting plans to turn it into a Tesco convenience store.

So can local food campaigners such as myself (hey - I've not been near a supermarket for four months so I reckon I can now call myself a campaigner!) chalk this up as a victory?

Sadly I suspect not. Tesco is still Britain's biggest supermarket and one of the largest supermarket chains in the world (third largest I believe - but don't quote me on that one!). And despite the recent bad press surround things like the horse meat scandal and milk blockades of last summer, shoppers are still queuing to get into the car park of our local store every weekend.

It's profits might be down by 51% but it still took a healthly £1.9 billion! And with that in the bank, I'm guessing bosses won't be losing sleep over the fact I've decided to spend my monthly £400 food and fuel budget elsewhere.

Still, as the supermarket itself likes to remind us, every little helps, So I'll be continuing with my drive to be supermarket-free. Because although that £400 won't mean much to Tesco, it certainly will help my local greengrocer, pet shop, butcher and petrol station. And I guess that is the beauty of shopping local - you can make sure your hard-earned cash counts by choosing exactly who to spend it with.