The Irish operation of supermarket giant Tesco made a profit of €185.3 million on turnover of €3.45 billion last year, according to its latest accounts.
This compared with a profit of €120.3 million on revenue of €3.26 billion in the previous year, and represented an improvement in its profit margin to 5.4 per cent from 3.7 per cent.
However, when non-cash property-related charges are excluded for both years the profit margin drops to 5.1 per cent for 2024 and 4.8 per cent for the previous year.
The accounts also note that the retailer benefited from reduced energy prices during the year, which also helped bolster its bottom line.
RM Block
Total revenue grew by 5.8 per cent while on a like-for-like basis sales grew by 4.6 per cent, “driven by strong and consistent volume growth”, the financial statements note.
[ Grocery inflation surges to highest rate since 2023Opens in new window ]
Accounts for Tesco Ireland Ltd for the year to February 22nd, 2025 also show that the company paid €120 million to its ultimate parent company, Tesco plc in the UK.
A €20 million dividend from Tesco Mobile’s Irish operation was also paid during the year to the British listed parent group.
The Irish company closed the year with accumulated profits of €928 million. And it paid corporation tax of just under €29 million for the 12-month period.
Last year Tesco opened 12 new stores here, including six Express smaller format stores. It also recently expanded its online services, with the recent launch of Whoosh, which offers deliveries to customers within 45 minutes.
According to the directors’ report, a “standout performance [during last year] was food sales, which grew by 5 per cent driven by strong volume growth in fresh food, with 29 per cent volume growth in our Finest range [of products]”.
Tesco Ireland closed the year with 13,470 staff (up 346 on a year earlier) while payroll costs amounted to €474 million.
Directors remuneration was €3.4 million, up from just under €3 million a year earlier. Five directors served during the year.
Based in Dún Laoghaire and led by chief executive Geoff Byrne, Tesco has 185 stores in the Republic and 45 in the North. It is in the middle of an expansion drive, investing €100 million a year to add 10 stores annually to its network.
“My ambition would be that every consumer in Ireland would be able to choose to go to a Tesco. Whether they do or not is up to them, but I want to put Tesco in their way at least,” Mr Byrne told The Irish Times in an interview this month.
