Leading UK supermarket group, Tesco PLC, announced the future creation of 20,000 new jobs worldwide as it reported strong financial results this week. Group sales increased by 14.2 per cent to £11.5bn (18.34 bn euros) up from £10.1bn in 2000 (16.4bm euros) and group profit before tax increased by 14 per cent to £481m (767bn euros). As sales in the UK rose 10 per cent to £9.8bn (15.6bn euros) those in Europe boasted a 32 per cent rise to £1.1bn (1.75bn euros) and sales in Asia witnessed a leap of 76 per cent to £0.6bn (0.96bn euros). Terry Leahy, Chief Executive, commented, "These results underline the strength of our four part strategy - a strong core UK business, non food, retailing services and our international business plus the commitment of the whole Tesco team to create continued value for our customers." Despite sales growth of 77 per cent, Tesco.com did make a loss of £3m in the first half. The company, a leader in online retailing,claims that this reflects the launch costs of new web sites.
