Tesco defies downturn with record £1.77 billion profits

Tesco profits have surged to a record £1.7billion in just six months despite the economic crisis.
Britain's biggest retailer made the equivalent of £65million a week or £9.3million a day up to August, figures out this week are expected to show.
The extraordinary profits - up from £1.5billion this time last year - triggered fresh claims Tesco's growing dominance is killing small businesses and turning communities into identikit clone towns.
The supermarket giant - which takes £1 in every £3 spent on groceries - has 2,300 stores in the UK.
Anti-Tesco campaigners say weak planning laws are allowing uncontrollable expansion, undermining local producers and ruining communities.
About 300 local campaigns are being fought to stop new Tesco stores or expansions.
Helen Rimmer, of Friends of the Earth, said: "Tesco's massive market share gives them huge buyer power to bully suppliers and drive down prices paid to farmers. Small businesses struggle to compete with Tesco's aggressive pricing and a new Tesco store inevitably drives trade away from local shops.

Source : Stephen Hayward - Mirror News