Tesco Plc S/Adr

Good morning, everyone, and a very happy new year. Thank you for joining us today for our quarter three and Christmas trading update. As usual, I'm here in Welland with Imran, and I'll start with a brief overview of our performance before opening the line for your questions. We are delighted with the way the customers have responded to our continued investments in value, quality and service. Group like for like sales grew by 2.9% over the 19 weeks, including 3.7% growth in the UK. Customer satisfaction improved and our UK market share is at its highest level in more than a decade, following 32 consecutive periods of gains. We set ourselves a challenging plan for Christmas and we delivered in line with that plan. With over 2 billion products going through our tills and more than 6 billion pounds of sales in the four weeks to Christmas Eve, our teams right across the group worked hard to deliver the outstanding service that customers have come to expect from Tesco. I would like to start the call today by saying a huge thank you to them for delivering a Christmas we can all be proud of. Our performance builds on last year's successful results and reflects the strength of our core food offer. In a highly competitive market and with customers looking to make their money go further, we saw particularly strong growth in fresh food, with like-for-like sales up 6.6% in the UK. Running alongside familiar festive favourites, we launched 340 new and improved own-brand Christmas products, including 180 in finest. We recognise that for many families, the cost of Christmas can be a stretch. We did everything possible to make sure our customers got the best value from us, starting with our fresh Christmas dinner for a family of six for under £10. At just £1.59 per person, it was even better value than last year. More broadly, our rate of inflation eased through the Christmas period and continues to be materially behind the market. We also invested in making the Christmas shop even easier for customers, including hiring over 28,000 additional colleagues. And with support from AI-powered scheduling tools, we offered more than 100,000 extra online delivery slots in the week before Christmas. Through better forecasting and planning, AI also helped us to deliver best-in-class availability and to optimize deliveries across our network. Customers continue to embrace finest, with sales growth of 13% in the UK, including a 22% increase in our finest party food range. Highlights included Christmas centerpieces, such as our finest turkey crowns and chef's collection Beef Wellington, as well as our curated finest gifting range and a long list of award-winning products. We sold around 21 million finest pigs in blankets, along with 2.5 million bottles of finest Prosecco. We also saw a strong demand for low alcohol options, including selling almost a quarter of a million bottles of nose echo. While turkey retained its popularity, some customers opted for other meats this Christmas, with sales of beef joints up 29%, making it the most popular alternative. Online remains our fastest growing channel with growth of 11% across the 19 weeks. It was our biggest online Christmas, including our two busiest days ever. In the week leading up to Christmas, we delivered on average two orders every second. Woosh also performed strongly with sales up 47% and more than a quarter of a million customers trying it for the first time. Both in-store and online, customers benefited from additional value through Clubcard. Alongside thousands of Club Card prices per week across a broad range of family favorites, we offered customers more personalized rewards, including gamified experiences with Club Card challenges. Our retail media offering continues to engage customers and brands, including the return of sponsored Christmas grottos now in their third year. The Tesco Media team continued to make great progress, and we were delighted to be named Media Brand of the Year at the Media Week Awards. In Ireland, we built on last year's strong performance and are now in our fourth year of market share gains with fresh food continuing to lead the way. With five openings in the period, including two large stores, we now have 190 stores in Ireland. We continue to roll out Woosh, which is now available in Dublin, Galway and Cork. Booker performed well despite challenging market conditions, with increased customer satisfaction scores in both core, catering and retail. Our wine and spirit specialist Venus continued to win new business and in our symbol brands, Premier opened its 5,000th store. In Central Europe, our targeted price investments contributed to growth in both food and non-food across the period, despite a backdrop of subdued consumer confidence and increased competition. Value continues to be a key priority as customers seek to make their money go further, and we're determined to do everything we can to help. Earlier this week, we launched a new commitment to everyday low prices on over 3,000 branded products, alongside our existing Aldi price match on more than 650 lines and thousands of club card prices. Our strong performance this Christmas gives us the confidence that group-adjusted operating profit will now be at the upper end of the £2.9 to £3.1 billion guidance range that we issued in October. We continue to expect free cash flow within our medium-term guidance range of £1.4 to £1.8 billion. So as we move to your questions, I just want to say another big thank you to all our colleagues for everything they did to help our customers to have a brilliant Christmas. Thank you all for listening, and I'll now hand back to Sergey.

Thank you, Ken. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad now. And please make sure the mute function on your phone is switched off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star 2. Again, please press star one to ask a question. Our first question is from Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. Happy New Year. Thanks for taking the question. For the first one, can you reference the easing food inflation over Christmas? Was that the entire driver of the slowdown versus 3Q? Are we seeing any sort of broader volume slowdown in the market? And do you think the overall market stepped down over Christmas? That would be the first one. And the second one is probably a bigger question, but clearly guiding to a broadly flat EBIT this year after strong top-line performance. What do you think needs to change for you or the market for you to be able to return to profit growth? Thank you.

Thanks, Rob. Happy New Year. Two great questions. Look, I think definitely the very strong trading plan we put together contributed to the drop in the kind of overall market growth, and therefore the easing of inflation was a material factor. There was also a step down in volume, even though we outperformed the market in terms of our volume growth. And we're really pleased with that consequentially. So I would say that our performance was pitched exactly right. It was an aggressive trading plan, but it was complemented with a fantastic performance. product innovation pipeline and really consistent execution both online and in stores. So for us, it's been a really pleasing performance. In terms of, you're right, the guidance is broadly flat year on year. I think that's an exceptional performance if you think about where we started this year. and some of the competitive activity that we responded to. What I'm really pleased about is how decisively we acted and how we got on the front foot and delivered very strong market share performance consistently across the year. And what's particularly pleasing, Rob, is that we didn't stop investing in the future. So we've been making substantial investments in our store estate, substantial investments in automation to keep our savings programs going, and even more importantly, making substantial innovation investments in technology for the future. And so we've got a very clear strategy. We believe in the long-term possibilities for this business, and we're quite confident for the future.

And maybe if I could just add maybe two bullets from my end as well, Rob. Two things on the ability to upgrade the outcome for this year and continue to invest, to contain the momentum and continue to protect the position of strength that we have, I think is not a bad place to be. The second thing to your sort of longer-term question, you know, it's important to go back to the performance framework that we did set out almost five years and we really stick to, which is, you know, we are very clear that we want to continue to drive up customer perception, to drive up market share, which in turn drives up profit and drives up cash. And I think you've seen us do that year in, year out. I think this year was an exceptional year with an exceptional reaction to a competitor, but I think we stuck to our guns. we invested into the proposition, we invested into price, and truthfully, being able to upgrade is a nice feeling because it demonstrated that everything we've done really worked out well.

Thank you very much. And just quickly to follow up on that inflation point, do you think – is inflation then more – the slowdown more driven by your own investment in price relative to your sort of input costs, or are you seeing input costs falling more broadly? Does the kind of consent, I'm just looking at next year and thinking people have got, markets got estimates UK growing above 3%. Does that look a bit ambitious given the Christmas exit rate?

Look, let me take first the Christmas specific question. Look, Kantar calls around an inflation of around 4% or so, slightly north of 4% over the Christmas period. As Ken just said, we made conscious choices to invest. There's no other time when you've got so many customers in your stores and you build momentum. And if you look at our market share gains, our volume market share gains were even stronger than our value market share gains, you know, over 12-year records. And I think that pays back as you then go into Jan, Feb, March, and April into the next year. So I'd say to you it was a conscious decision to invest into value, which we saw pay off in the market share. Then in terms of next year's outlook, you know as well as I do that inflation is a driver of commodities as much as it is of stickier costs on payroll. All of those things are still to be worked out, and we'll see where we land when we talk to you in April.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it. Thanks, Rob. Our next question comes from Xavier Lamine from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thank you for the question, and happy to get to you. Quick one, actually, on the market share. As you said, you've got the strongest market share ever for the last 10 years, but where potentially do you see you in a few years? Do you still think that you've got opportunity to grow your market share, or are you more in a position to defend what you've got right now?

Xavier, we are always thinking offensively rather than defensively. That's our mindset. We see it less about the market share per se and more about are we doing the right things for all our stakeholders and particularly our customers? So are we getting our value right? Are we getting the quality of the proposition right from a product point of view? Are we getting our execution right? And are we innovating and thinking about the future in ways that customers' trends and needs are adapting? And that's really where we focus all our energy, and then we look to market share as a measure of how successfully are we executing against that strategy. So we don't see any limits in terms of where we can take market share, but it is not a given. It's something that we have to work very hard to achieve.

Just one follow-up, and actually Rob's question. Sequentially, you said you've seen a bit of slowdown. It sounds like it's also market driven, but do you expect, you know, the slowdown to continue heading to 26 or do you think that potentially it's more a question of consumer confidence and hopefully, you know, UK consumers getting a bit better going forward?

Look, I mean, I think when I look at consumer confidence this year, I would say it's mixed, you know, but it's been mixed throughout the entire year, right? What you saw was people that are – there's a cohort of groups that are, frankly, you know, in a good place and feeling comfortable with their savings and their spending, and then there's a group of people looking for value. I feel – We saw that reflected. When you look at finest performance, in a way, it's a reflection of the fact that people are looking for value and quality at the same time. We're able to hit that. So I think our everyday low-price campaign that we're launching, again, hits the bullseye on that. I think addressing all of those issues opportunities for those customers looking for value is the right way to go forward fair to say that as you as you you know the question and the question is was the market was the market overall a bit softer over Christmas I'd say yes on a volume basis the reality though also is because we really outperformed every single month over the last 19 weeks on a volume share basis we were not really affected by that you know and I think one proof point for me is you know the way we exited the year was very clean on stock Then how it plays out next year, we'll obviously talk to you again in April. But, look, one of the things that we do feel good about in this business, and I think we've demonstrated that over the last five years, is we are very good at adapting ourselves to whatever the environment throws at us. And it's one of the reasons why we've put value at the front and center of everything we're doing.

Thank you. That's very helpful. Thanks, Abid.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Manjari Dar from RBC. Please go ahead.

Morning, Ken. Just two questions from me, please. My first question is on supplier-funded promotions. We've seen them picking up over recent months. I was wondering how much higher could this go? And if it does continue to drift higher, does that change your approach for the tech business, maybe for your private label business? And then my second question is on the digital data opportunity. I guess how much further is there to go with club card personalization and AI and what sort of things should we expect to go this year?

Thanks, Manjari. So I would start off by saying that kind of – supplier-funded promotional penetration or participation is actually only returning to what it was pre-COVID. So it's not like it's wildly out of kilter with historical norms. That's the first thing to say. The second thing is that actually, as you saw from our announcement this week, we have reinvested a lot of promotional funding back into everyday low pricing through the extension of our low price campaign from 1,000 to 3,000 lines. And that really is based on an insight from customers that say they need reliable low pricing during these months when money is tight and they're watching every penny. And so that is the first signal, by the way, that we are kind of – we are responding to – to customers' needs in the moment. So I'm kind of relaxed about that, if you like.

I think it's a normal... And maybe to give you a number on that, just to give you a sense to under Pinkett's point, last year's promo percentage was around 33% and this year it's 34% over that 19-week period, which gives you a sense there's a slight creep-up but not massive.

Yeah, it was artificially depressed during COVID, Manjari, so it was very hard to compare apples with apples. If I go to your second question, which is a very exciting question, it's a question we're really excited about. We don't see any limits to the opportunity around data and particularly the opportunity to serve customers better through data. getting to understand their needs better, responding much more dynamically, using AI to help us be there for customers whenever they need us. And we're investing behind that and we'll continue to do so. And I think it'll be something that you'll see continuous improvement from us over the next number of years. I think there's infinite possibilities.

Great. Let me just Should we be expecting investment levels behind that overall group capex that just slightly step up now as a result?

Well, we've always been quite clear about our kind of breakdown of capex being a kind of a three-part logic, which is part one is where we're investing in our core estate renewal and the shopping experience. Part two was where we're investing in automation to support our Save to Invest programs. And phase three, which is all about innovation, technology investment for optimizing our proposition. And probably the greatest, we've seen step-up investments across the board actually in all three areas. and and that's been what's been behind our progressive increase in capital and actually as we've gone we've kept a very close eye on return on capital employed and that has also been improving over time so we're you know very disciplined on how we spend our money yeah and also what's what's really nice is in the base we have it was also reflected already

increases year on year into our tech organization, because we know that this is an area of opportunity for both on the growth side, but also on the efficiency and savings side.

Great. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll now move to our next question from Sridhar Mahabkali from UBS. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good morning, Tim. I'd like to take my questions back in your ear. Maybe three for me, if you don't mind. First one, in terms of improving price position versus the market, a comment in the statement, can you talk to us if it's been the case versus all operators? as you see it especially given you know one of the big competitors reset and continuing investment and that's the first one secondly just trying to understand the the new or when you push on everyday low prices a couple of questions there is this reallocating in the promotional funding more to be fully behind everyday low prices versus cut card prices I do see the offer to the consumer changing in the round as a result of what you mean executing really well on top card prices already. And second one, sticking with everyday low prices, as this pushed signal to us that 2026 is likely to be as big a year of investment And it was in 2025. Is that how we should read this? Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much, Sridhar. I think I'd start off by saying that our price position has strengthened over the year versus the market. generally. And that I think more importantly, the sophistication of our pricing investment has improved through the technology investments we've made, such that we focus on the lines that matter most to customers. So we're investing in value, but we're investing wisely and quite judiciously. And I think that is what has helped us to outperform the market. On your point around everyday low pricing, I think that was a response to Customer Insight, which said they wanted more reliable pricing on everyday essentials in these key periods of January, February. And so we made a long-term commitment to, as you say, invest principally. promotional funding back into everyday low pricing. And you shouldn't read it as any more than us responding to a customer insight to give customers the best possible value in these early months of the year. And I don't think it's a signal of anything other than our intent to stay on the front foot from a value for money point of view in 2026.

Yeah, I think one aspect, Sridhar, that's important is we already have everyday low prices on 1,000 SKUs. And what we're doing is because it works so well, we're giving it more visibility, more color, and it's been expanded to 3,000 of people's favorite brands in the country. So from that level, it's also a confirmation of something working really well that we want to double down on. or triple down on, I should say.

And in the round, I guess what I'm trying to understand is club card prices are being incredibly successful for you. Is this recognition to Ken's point, I guess, some of that needs to be more upfront sell prices rather than club card prices. Is that how I should see it?

I mean, I think it's a continuous conversation depending on what customers are looking for, but I'd be very comfortable to say to you that as opposed to having only exclusive deals on clockwork prices, we want to have more, as Ken said, more longer-term price fixes as we've been doing on low everyday prices now rebranded.

Thank you. Thanks, Sridhar. Thank you. Well, then we'll do our next question from Clive Black from Shore Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Well, thank you very much. Thanks for the presentation and also a very happy New Year to you. And well done, by the way. Not an easy thing to deliver. The question I have is really around volume. First of all, why do you think volume in the Christmas period was a bit slower than you and maybe the industry expected? And in particular, do you think there are features around alcohol consumption and maybe diet suppressant drugs that are starting to kick in more noticeably in that respect. And then in terms of that volume, is that a key factor why you expect working capital, sorry, your free cash generation to come in with existing guidance, which might mean that working capital is a bit of a flatter benefit year on year? Does that make sense?

Morning Clive and happy new year to you too and thank you for your comments. I'll speak to the volume comment and then I'll pass over to Imran maybe to talk about working capital. So I start off by saying that What was particularly pleasing about our performance is we outperformed the market on volume. I think it's fair to say that the market overall was a little bit softer on volume, but our outperformance was particularly important. And within that, I was particularly pleased with our fresh food performance. So speaking to your point about is there a little bit less alcohol consumption, Is there an impact? I think there's a general impact from people wanting to eat and live more healthily. And for sure, within that, GLP-1 will be having an impact. But our fresh food sales at 6 plus 0.6% were particularly strong. You know, my feeling is that whatever way this trend evolves, we're really well set up to take advantage of it. And we've been investing very heavily in our fresh food proposition over the last couple of years. And it has been the principal driver of our business. which we feel really pleased about. There's no doubt, as you saw from some of the stats that I shared on the call earlier, that you are seeing a significant rise in low and no alcohol sales, but we respond to that as well. We have the products on the range to address it. And within our food range, we have a high, you know, number of high protein products that are really well suited to anybody looking to pursue that kind of diet. So we feel really well set for whatever trends are coming our way. But, you know, for sure, trends are emerging and we are keeping a very close eye on them.

Sorry Ken, just in that respect, Ken, are you therefore seeing, sorry Imran, but are you seeing notable step backs therefore in areas that are more exposed to changing diets, ambient carbohydrates and the like?

No, not really. I mean, we shifted an extraordinary amount of chocolate tubs over the Christmas period. So I think... And I was a material contributor to that personally. So no, the short answer is no, it's been really strong.

Yeah, no, absolutely. Just on your second question, I mean, just to reiterate what Ken just said, you know, and how it impacts cash, I mean, obviously we were less affected by the market slowdown because if I look at Q3 and the Christmas period, you know, we were growing volume every single month and outperforming on market share every single month. So that gives you a sense of it not being a real driver on working capital because ultimately volumes are positive. And more pleasingly, I could say that we're exiting very, very cleanly. Actually, I was very happy about that. We set up a very ambitious Christmas, and we delivered in line with that. And when you exit cleanly, it just helps you get momentum also into January, which is nice. In terms of cash flow, look, we had a very, very strong first half, over $1.6 billion. As you know, typically our cash flow is skewed towards the first half, and in the second half you've got the payments out the door from all the supply you bring in for Christmas. So that phasing will play itself out as per normal. And as you know, our guidance on cash is that consistent range we've been giving, 1.4 to 1.8. I know we've delivered always to the upside on that one. So it's never stopped us from doing a good job and the plan is to continue to do so. But as you also know, the working capital balances at Tesco are enormous. So just to give us a bit of flex in terms of any last minute payments or receivables or anything like that, it gives us a bit of space to do that. But obviously cash is important and the plan is absolutely to continue to deliver within that range.

Thank you very much and well done again.

Thank you. Thanks, Clive. Thank you. Our next question is from Monique Ollard from Citi. Please go ahead.

Hi. Morning, everybody. Thank you for taking my questions. A few from me if I can. The first one, obviously, you know, good market share gain, UK market share gains of 31 bps over Christmas. And from what I understand from the commentary from Imran, the volume market share gains over that period are even stronger than that. What I'd like to understand, you know, from customer feedback, the surveys you do, et cetera, is, you know, are you able to give us some sense of how much of that you think is due to strong price positioning? Can you mention that, you know, your price position has strengthened versus the market this year and you were aggressive in terms of inflation over the Christmas period? So how much of that is price positioning and how much is things like investment in availability over Christmas, which probably is particularly strong versus, particularly some competitors over the period, and things like the store estate, staff in stores, et cetera, over that period. And then the second question is just me trying to understand that level of price investment that you've put in, whether some of that was seasonally specific to the Christmas period. As you mentioned, you never get that volume of customers in store and therefore important to be on the front foot on price or whether that is sort of something you should expect to be a bit ongoing.

Right. Monique, so I think the short answer to your first question is that delivering the kind of market share performance we've delivered not only over Christmas but right across the year is actually a composite of great value, great quality, great execution. I think you'll have seen among some of our competitors that even if you If you drive a very strong value message, if you don't have the quality and the supply chain precision and the in-store execution to go with it, it's very hard to deliver the performance. So I would say that our market share performance has been a composite performance of everybody in Tesco across all the functions and departments doing their job really well and executing against the plan. So I think that would be the answer to the first question. The second question is around price investment is that clearly, you know, Christmas is the FA Cup final for retailers. So we all lean in very heavily to a very strong trade plan over Christmas. And it's also a chance for customers to – reappraise your proposition, shop for the first time and really like and appreciate what they see. So we work very hard from everything from product innovation through to hiring of nearly 30,000 extra people through to the very strong trade plan that we delivered. And that is quite a specific event. It doesn't necessarily mean anything for the rest of the year per se, other than the fact that we will continue to invest appropriately. And I think, as you saw from our announcement earlier this week, we acted against a specific customer insight for January, February, which said we needed to provide more reliable everyday low pricing on a wider range of products. And so we've traveled our everyday low pricing range to $3,000. And so what you can expect from us is that we will adapt constantly to insights from customers and react so that we're giving them the best value that's appropriate for the moment.

Another angle, Monique, as well to keep in mind is the perspective on channels. So when you look at... where the market share gain came from over the Christmas period, we got it in large stores, which is great because that's the key estate. But at the same time, you know, that 11% growth we saw in online also led us to continue to gain market share in our online business, you know, which was also great to see. And given the fact that we are over 36% market share in online, that gave us an extra benefit on market share as well.

Thank you.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Matt Clemens from Barclays. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, both. Thank you for your time. First question was, you often give a very useful insight into the health of the UK consumer, your updates. I was wondering if you could just talk us through how sentiment and spending evolve through the period, particularly around maybe November with the budget. And how do you think we're set up for consumer health into 26, government policy, et cetera? And then the second question was around Finest, which is compounding exceptional growth now. Any views on Finest into next year? I mean, particularly around the dining out to dining in trend, do you expect that to continue? What's the innovation pipeline like? Anything on that would be helpful. Thank you.

Great. Thanks, Matt. So I think the first thing to say on consumer sentiment is that we've definitely seen that consumer sentiment is mixed. I think we have a section of the community that is in pretty good shape from a household budget perspective, and then we have a section of the community that is really struggling to make ends meet. And I think that is playing out overall in terms of how customers are shopping. They're very value conscious. At the same time, though, there is a significant proportion of households that are in decent shape financially, and they are looking for good value for money. And that, I think, is a big factor in what's driving our finest sales. I think there is that trend towards eating in more and eating well, and that's driving our fresh food sales. And I think the consumer has shown great resilience in a lot of uncertainty. I think the budget is just one factor in a number of factors that's driving uncertainty. But we have seen a pretty resilient consumer in terms of their spending pattern and habits. And we continue to monitor it very closely. But we, to a certain extent, as long as employment remains strong, expect that resilience to continue. And Finest really is a subset of that. I think Finest... for us is delivering on two fronts. It's responding to that trend of wanting to eat restaurant-quality food in your home, but it's also responding to the fact that historically Tesco would have under-traded in that particular meal occasion or mission. And I think what you've seen for us in terms of the amount of product innovation, the bravery to go deeper into distribution, to go into more and more different categories and cuisines has given us the confidence to really fight for fair share in that meal occasion. And so we still believe there's a lot of room for growth in Finest in the coming years.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Thank you. Thanks, Matt.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question from William Woods from Bernstein. Please go ahead. William Woods from Bernstein. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Hi. Good morning. Happy New Year. When you look at your success over the last five years, you've had great success with things like Aldi Price Match, Club Car Prices, Finest, et cetera, and your peers have played catch up. What do you think are the next levers that you can pull over the next five years to continue to innovate, continue to lead the market and gain market share? Thanks.

Thanks very much, Will. I think first and foremost, we would say that our strategy of focusing on the core basics and executing them brilliantly and consistently remains a fundamental pillar and foundation stone of our strategy going forward. The second thing I would say is that the building out of our proximity to customers in terms of their food needs is equally important. So what we've done in terms of extending our grocery home shopping, slot availability, the work we've done to build Woosh into a really market leading from a value point of view, quick commerce model, the launch of F&F online are all contributing factors to getting closer to customers and making life more convenient. And then on top of that, we're working very hard to get really close from a data point of view to our customer base. And that is really starting to deliver results for us. And that, I think, is where the greatest opportunity lies is using data and insight to really get closer and closer to customers, anticipate and serve their needs, both digitally and physically. And we see clearly Clubcard at the very heart of that. And we also see Dunhumby as a clear source of competitive advantage to help us deliver that as well. Understood. Thank you. And probably I should finish by saying something that's not necessarily the sexiest thing, but is absolutely critical, which is that we have an incredibly strong save to invest program. Imran has led this since he's joined the business. The step up in our savings has been extraordinary from, you know, 300 million a year to nearly half of over half a billion a year. And that shouldn't be underestimated in what it's allowed us to do in terms of stepping up capital investment, stepping up our investment in value without ever compromising on the customer journey. So, you know, they'd be the key pillars of what underpin, you know, our future growth opportunity. Thank you. Thanks, Will.

Our next question comes from Ben Zoaga from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Yeah, morning all. Just a couple of questions, follow-ups from my side, firstly on inflation and secondly on supply funding. So firstly, you say you've improved your price position against the market. She wants to ask, is this broad-based across competitors or were there particular competitors that you'd call out as closing that gap again? And are there any particular product areas where you've focused your price investments, such as fresh food? Secondly, on supplier funding, is it fair to say that the elevated levels of supplier funding in H1 have continued into Q3 and Christmas, particularly as the market turned more promotional? And are you able to comment on the levels of brand support behind the expansion of everyday low prices? Thanks very much.

Thank you. Look, I mean, in terms of inflation and strengthening price position, I mean, we take a view and we obviously have our own pricing strategy and we have stuck to that since over the last five years. And, look, we take a broad view that we want to continue to strengthen versus everyone. I mean, ultimately, the ultimate judge of how strong your price really is is the customer. And, you know, the combination of Aldi price match, club card prices, and now low everyday prices in our view is the right combination. And it's made us stronger and stronger. And, you know, it's working well for us. And I would say to you it's a broad-based strengthening across most of our competitors, which is good to see. Then in terms of promo intensity and supplier funding, look, the truth is promo funding has gone up a bit. You know, you saw that from the brands wanting to regain volume growth, which is good for us because, you know, it comes under the banner of Tesco and Club Cut prices, so we like to see that. That's a good thing. You will have noticed that the low everyday prices is brands oriented, which is good. Brands like to grow and they can see that they have grown with Tesco online and in store and they want to continue to grow and we have a great partnership with them. As ever, any campaign or events we run, there are always some investment from our side, some investment from the brand side, but you wouldn't expect me to give you some commercial details on the call here in terms of how we execute these. But suffice it to say, they're customer-centric and data-led, and clearly the idea behind them is to continue to grow and gain share.

All right, thanks very much.

Thank you. Thank you. I will now take our last question today from Karine Elias from Barclays. Please go ahead.

Hi, and thanks again for taking my questions. Most of them have been answered, but just one final one. In the release, you mentioned obviously the competitive environment being as competitive as ever. Just broadly speaking, I think historically you've called it more rational. Do you feel that that's still the case, or perhaps there was some intensity going into Christmas? Thank you.

So the definition of rational is always a broad one when you're dealing with 10 to 12 different competitors who are all looking to win the basket from you. But I would say that the market intensity in terms of competition, pricing, et cetera, has remained strong since February last year. It didn't really change over Christmas. But I think what hopefully you will have observed is that our response has been really decisive and really quick. And we have maintained that intensity throughout the year. And that's what really helped us underpin the very strong market share performance that you saw over Christmas.

That's very helpful. Best of luck.

Thank you.

Thank you. That was the last question today. With this, I'd like to hand the call back over to Ken Murphy for closing remarks. Over to you, sir.

Thank you so much, everyone who's joined the call, took the time out. I know it's an incredibly busy day with a lot of announcements from various different companies. So we really appreciate you taking the time to join us. Thank you all for the excellent questions. I wish everybody a really happy new year and a prosperous 2026. And I'm looking forward to seeing you all in April. Thank you. Goodbye.