date:Jan 08, 2013
of a highly promotional market.
In the six weeks to December 30, total sales excluding fuel were down by 0.9% (0.5% including fuel).
Like-for-like sales fell by 2.5% and by 2.2% including fuel.
But the retailer said its financial position remains strong. Full-year net debt was expected to be in the range of 2.12.2bn. Its two-year programme to retire 1bn of equity, originally announced in March 2011, was well-advanced, it said. To date we have acquired 329M shares at a total investment of 93