SUPERMARKET group Tesco has reported a 15 per cent rise in pre-tax profits thanks to strong growth in international sales.
Total international sales rose 31.2 per cent to £5.2bn in the year to February 22.
Britain's biggest grocer now has 45 per cent of group selling space and 75,000 of its staff working overseas.
In the UK, sales grew by 7.9 per cent to £23.4bn with like-for-like sales of 4.1 per cent in the period.
The Tesco Personal Finance operation, a link-up with the Royal Bank of Scotland, achieved £96m of profit with £48m going to Tesco, up from £20m last year.
Online shopping venture Tesco.com made £12.2m profit in the year compared with £400,000 last time.
Overall group pre-tax profits rose to £1.4bn from £1.2bn in 2002.
Tesco has pledged to create 20,000 jobs this year as it pursues further expansion.
About 11,000 of those will be in the UK to staff new stores, expansion of existing supermarkets and to help meet demand as sales growth continues.
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