Tesco full-year profit up despite UK sales slide

LONDON (AP) - Tesco, the world's third-largest retailer, has reported a 14 percent full-year profit rise even though it missed its growth target in its main British market.

The company reported a net profit of 2.66 billion pounds ($4.3 billion ) for the year ending Feb. 26, up from 2.37 billion pounds last year.

However, Tesco PLC's trading profit of 3.68 billion pounds undershot analysts' consensus of 3.74 billion pounds.

In its core U.K market, Tesco reported a 0.7 percent decline in fourth quarter same-store sales, excluding petrol and sales tax. The company says the drop was only partly due to the state of the British economy.