Tesco's share price slides on 55% H1 profits fall

Shares down 1.4% in early morning

Tesco's share price has opened lower this morning, after the supermarket revealed a 54.6% drop in pre-tax profits for the first half of the year amid "challenging economic conditions".

Tesco has reported underlying profits for the first half of the supermarket's financial year stood at £354m, down from £779m compared to the same period the previous year. Tesco's share price has opened 1.4% lower as a result, trading at 190p in early morning. It has been volatile over the past 12 months, but is up 11.5% over the year. Group sales also fell to £23.9bn, down 1.9% year-on-year from £24.2bn, driven by the closure of 53 unprofitable stores in the UK and a reduced number of new store openings. UK like-for-like sales performance was down 1.1% over the period, though inte...