The politicians might say that things are getting better but a multinational corporation seems to have its finger on the pulse of the UK economy and it’s not happy.
Tesco released its interim management statement for its third quarter and the outlook is far from rosy.
According to Philip Clarke, the Tesco CEO, like for like sales fell by 1.5 percent, mostly due to a weaker grocery market.
He said: “Continuing pressures on UK household finances have made the grocery market more challenging for everyone since the summer and our third quarter performance reflects this.”
He said its decision to open fewer stores is holding back Tesco’s performance “in the short term”.
Clarke said that “consumers are still managing the effects of an unprecedented period of declining real incomes and a higher cost of living. The average spending power of a typical UK household is around 10 percent below its 2007 peak in real terms”.
Things are not going particularly swimmingly in its foreign markets, Tesco said.
