Trading Statement

Tesco PLC
17 January 2006

Tuesday 17 January 2006


                     CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR TRADING STATEMENT

                     TESCO DELIVERS STRONG CHRISTMAS SALES


Tesco has delivered strong growth and record sales over the Christmas and New
Year period. Group sales increased by 11.5% in the seven weeks to 7 January
2006, driven by all four parts of our strategy.

Strong UK Performance

UK sales grew by 10.1%, including like-for-like growth of 7.2% and 2.9% from net
new space. Excluding petrol, like-for-like sales increased by 5.7%, slightly
higher than the rate of growth reported in our third quarter. Whilst deflation
in our stores of (1.5)% remained broadly the same as in our third quarter and
reflected our investment in lower prices for customers, the UK overall moved
from inflation of 0.5% to deflation of (0.5)% as the impact of petrol price
rises moderated.

The commitment and hard work of our staff once again delivered our best ever
Christmas for customers. Our customer service and product availability were
strong and one-stop shopping for food and non-food at our 117 Extra stores was
particularly popular. Seasonal foods, especially Tesco Finest products, sold
very well and growth in non-foods was also pleasing, with home entertainment,
electronics, clothing, toys and gifts performing strongly.

Tesco.com had another record year, delivering over a million orders in the
four-week period before Christmas and Tesco Mobile signed-up its millionth
customer during December.

Good International Progress

Our overseas businesses traded well over the Christmas and New Year trading
period with International sales growing by 16.1%.


For further information:

Investor Relations     Steve Webb          [phone]
Press                  Jonathan Church     [phone]
                       Angus Maitland      [phone]


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange