London - Britain's leading supermarket chain Tesco Tuesday reported annual pre-tax profits of 3.13 billion pounds (4.54 billion dollars) up to the end of February, 2009, an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year.

The retail giant posted worldwide sales of 59.34 billion pounds in the 12 months to February 28, ringing up sales of 1 billion pounds a week.

However, the growth in profits was far lower than the 11.8 per cent seen the previous year, the company said.

The food chain, which has expanded into eastern Europe and Asia, said it was confident that it would continue to "make good progress even in the current global economic environment".

The company, which also sells clothes in some outlets, said it had "coped well with recovering competitors and a difficult non-food market."

The number of customers and the amounts they were spending had increased. Analysts said shoppers watching their purses had been flocking to high-quality stores offering competitive prices. (dpa)