Tesco had some good news when it released its preliminary results on Wednesday with the UK’s largest supermarket operator saying that clothing growth beat the wider market and womenswear was particularly strong.

The company said total sales for the group rose 7.4% to £61.4 billion and adjusted operating profit was up 12.8% at £2.8 billion. Continuing revenue rose 4.4% to £68.19 billion and operating profit doubled to £2.8 billion. Profit before tax was up almost 160% at £2.29 billion. Meanwhile net profit for the year was up 62% to almost £1.2 billion.

It was clearly a strong year with like-for-like sales in the core UK & Republic of Ireland market up 7.3%, although in Central Europe they only rose 0.2%.

The company said Home and Clothing sales, which now account for around 7% of total UK sales, declined by 3.4% for the full year, but that wasn’t quite the bad news for the fashion sector that it looked to be at first glance. The fall reflected “the impact of strategic ranging decisions, including exiting low-returning categories such as large electricals”. 

But excluding these impacts, sales were broadly flat. And its clothing sales “grew faster than the broader store-based clothing market, with Womenswear a particular highlight, growing 3.7%”.  

The company’s F&F offer and the other third-party brands it sells clearly remain popular and highlight how many people now buy their clothing and accessories at the same time as they shop for groceries in store such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.

Tesco also launched the Paperchase brand in 120 stores in time for Christmas, offering more customers access to a range of premium stationery and cards. And in January, it announced a new partnership with The Entertainer and will roll out “a leading range of toy brands to around 750 UK stores across the coming year”.