Trading Statement

Tesco PLC
18 January 2005

                                   TESCO PLC

                     CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR TRADING STATEMENT

                          BEST CHRISTMAS FOR CUSTOMERS

Tesco has delivered strong growth and record sales over the Christmas and New
Year period. Group sales increased by 13.0% in the seven weeks to 8th January
2005, driven by all four parts of our strategy.

Strong UK Performance

UK sales grew by 12.1%, including like-for-like growth of 9.3% and 2.8% from net
new space. Significant growth in petrol volumes, which we have seen for much of
this year, continued over the holiday period, helped again by our efforts to
keep fuel prices down. Excluding petrol, like-for-like sales increased by 7.6%,
similar to the rate of growth reported in our third quarter.

Excluding petrol, we saw deflation of (1.6%) in our stores as we invested
further in lowering prices for customers. We announced an extra £80 million of
cuts on 31st December.

We are delighted that our staff delivered our best ever Christmas for customers.
One stop shopping for food and non-food at our 100 Extra stores was particularly
popular.

Good International Progress

International sales grew by 16.1% over the Christmas and New Year trading
period, despite tough trading conditions in some of our markets in Central
Europe.

The group's strong sales performance means that, despite higher energy and fuel
costs and adverse movements in exchange rates, we remain confident that our
out-turn for the year will be in line with current market consensus.

                                     -Ends-

For further information:

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




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