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Tesco

Five strategic ambitions, From April 2026

Our goal is to create long-term sustainable value for all our stakeholders, by consistently delivering for customers
Tesco’s goal

Five strategic ambitions

Tesco sold £66.6 billion in the year to February 2026 and earned £3,152 million of adjusted operating profit, with its highest UK market share for over a decade, at 28.5%. In April it set out its strategy as five goals: winning in food, meeting more everyday needs, being the most strategic partner for suppliers, being connected, personalised, and loved, and long-term sustainability. Its price cuts are paid for by Save to Invest, a savings programme that has delivered over £2.2 billion in four years.

1Winning in food2More everydayneeds3Strategicpartner forsuppliers4Connected,personalised,loved5Long-termsustainability

Winning in food

  1. ValueTriple the products on Everyday Low Prices to 3,000, alongside over 10,000 Clubcard Prices and more than 600 Aldi Price Match lines.1.1
  2. Quality and rangeLaunch over 2,000 new and improved products a year, more than 750 of them Finest.1.2
  3. Any way to shopServe customers in stores, online, and by Tesco Whoosh rapid delivery, with Booker’s wholesale business behind them.1.3

UK market share rose 24 basis points to 28.5%, and 122 basis points in three years.

Finest sales rose 15% to £3 billion, and UK online sales 11% to over £7 billion.

Whoosh sales rose 51% to over £400 million, and its coverage reached 73% of UK households.

Everyday Low Prices tripled to 3,000 products

Tesco expanded Everyday Low Prices from 1,000 products in January 2026, alongside Aldi Price Match on over 600 lines and thousands of Clubcard Prices every week.

Everyday Low Prices3,000Aldi Price Matchover 600Clubcard Pricesover 10,000

Each tile is one hundred lines. The three sets overlap, so the counts are not added together.

−9.5%

Over 10,000 products were cheaper at the end of the year than at the start, by 9.5% on average.

2,000+

Express stores gained Aldi Price Match in the first quarter of 2026/27.

Save to Invest has saved over £2.2 billion in four years

Tesco says its price cuts, its 5.1% pay rise, and its £65 million award to colleagues were paid for by Save to Invest.

1Save2Invest3Sell more4Gain share£3,152madjusted operating profitup 0.6% at constant rates

Save to Invest takes cost out of the business.

  • About £535 million saved in FY 25/26, ahead of target.
  • Over £2.2 billion over the last four years.
  • A new target of £500 million for FY 26/27.

Sales growth and Save to Invest together more than offset the investment in the customer offer and the rise in costs, so that adjusted operating profit grew.

  1. Pay for the promise from the cost side.

    Tesco cut prices, raised pay by 5.1%, and paid colleagues a £65 million award, while adjusted operating profit still grew, because Save to Invest delivered about £535 million of savings in the year and over £2.2 billion in four. We recommend funding a promise to customers from a named savings programme with its own target, so that generosity is planned and not borrowed from profit.

  2. Let goals lean on each other.

    Tesco calls its five goals mutually reinforcing, and the links are concrete: value brings customers, Clubcard data personalises the offer, the same data earns advertising income from suppliers, and that income can flow back into lower prices. We recommend checking each goal in a plan for what it gives the others, and dropping any that only takes.

  3. Say what you will do with the extra.

    Tesco’s medium-term free cash flow range is now £1.5 billion to £2.0 billion, up from £1.4 billion to £1.8 billion, and it says what it does with surplus cash: reinvest first, keep a solid balance sheet, pay a dividend of about half of earnings, and return the rest through buybacks. We recommend deciding in advance where success will be spent, so that a good year does not start an argument.

Sources

  1. 1. Tesco PLC (2026). Preliminary Results 2025/26. Results statement, 16 April 2026. tescoplc.com
  2. 2. Tesco PLC (2026). Q1 Trading Statement 2026/27. Company announcement, 18 June 2026. investegate.co.uk

Headwater is not connected with Tesco PLC. Tesco, Clubcard, Finest, F&F, Whoosh, and Booker are trade marks of their owners. Updated 29 September 2026.

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