Weather more important to sales than World Cup, says Tesco as growth slows

By Sarah Butler • June 18, 2026 • Business

Strong sales of canned cocktails and Irn-Bru help retailer beat forecasts – and sunshine made people spend

The weather will have more impact on grocery sales than home nation World Cup wins, according to the boss of Tesco, as it said UK sales growth more than halved during a rainy spring and the Middle East conflict. Ken Murphy, the chief executive of the UK’s biggest retailer, said the rainy conditions for much of this spring – compared with a long spell of sunshine last year – had a larger effect on spending habits than the football or the Iran war, despite the latter creating “ongoing uncertainty for many households”. He said the biggest impact on the market would be the weather, with sunshine prompting households to “eat together more, celebrate more and spend more on groceries”. “It will be fantastic for the country if [England and Scotland] did well,” Murphy added. “It would give the country a real lift.” Sales via Tesco’s Whoosh fast-track grocery delivery service jumped 40% around the England-Croatia game on Wednesday night and rose even more in Scotland around Sunday’s win over Haiti. Sales of Irn-Bru, the fizzy drink popular north of the border, rose by 50% and canned cocktails increased by 185% before the Haiti match. However, Murphy said: “The weather effect is the big difference.” Football fans are expected to provide a £267.7m boost to retail sales ahead of England’s second World Cup match on Tuesday evening, with nearly £70m predicted to be spent in pubs and other venues, according to research from GlobalData for VoucherCodes. However, data from the Euro 2024 competition, in which England reached the final, indicates that the level of sales uplift overall for supermarkets during the tournament is likely to be marginal. The market research firm Circana said cost of living pressures and discounting, as well as more time spent at home, meant households were unlikely to spend “much more” on food and drink than usual. Tesco said comparable sales rose 1.8% to £13.4bn in the three months to the end of May, below both the 4.2% reported in the previous quarter and the 2.3% growth City analysts had predicted. The numbers were, however, lifted by an 8.9% rise in online sales, and group sales rose 1% to £16.8bn. Murphy said consumer confidence was low amid fears of the impact of the Middle East conflict, which has pushed up petrol prices and threatens household energy bills later this year, but this had not translated into significant changes in shopping behaviour. Murphy added that sales growth was also dampened by slowing grocery inflation on the previous quarter as the price of commodities such as coffee and cocoa had eased and many food producers had put in place measures to protect themselves from the surge in energy prices. He said he did not expect grocery inflation to reach as high as the 9% levels suggested by some industry bodies and petrol pump prices were “falling as we speak” amid hopes of a lasting peace deal between the US and Iran. Tesco said it had extended its pledge to match the German discounter Aldi on leading product lines to more than 2,000 of its small Express stores and launched 520 new products and said it was “well placed to build on our progress to date”. Sales at Tesco’s Booker wholesale arm fell 3.2%, with sales to independent retailers and catering businesses falling amid tough conditions on the high street. Tesco, which holds its annual shareholder meeting later on Thursday, said it still expected to meet profit expectations for the year. Analysts expect it to make £3.25bn in profit this financial year. However, shares fell 2.4% in early trading. In April, Tesco gave a warning about a potential drop in annual profits, which would be the first fall since 2023. In the year to 28 February profits rose by 8.5% to £2.4bn as sales rose by 4.3% to £66.6bn, including strong growth in the UK.

Source: The Guardian