TIMELINE: Tesco's road to record profits
(Reuters) - Tesco posted a 10 percent increase in underlying annual profit to 3.13 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) on April, a record for a British retailer.
Following are some key events in Tesco's rise to No.3 retailer:
1919 - Founder Jack Cohen begins selling surplus groceries from a store in the East End of London. His first day's profit is 1 pound on sales of 4 pounds.
1924 - Cohen launches his first own-brand product, Tesco Tea. The name comes from the initials of TE Stockwell, a partner in the firm supplying the tea, and "CO" from Cohen's surname.
1947 - Tesco Stores (Holdings) Ltd floats on the London Stock Exchange with share price of 25 pence.
1995 - Becomes Britain's market-leading food retailer.
- Tesco Clubcard customer rewards scheme launched.
- Enters Hungary.
2001 - Forms strategic relationship with U.S. supermarket Safeway to take Tesco.com model to United States.
- Enters Malaysia.
2007 - Opens first U.S. store near Los Angeles.
April 2008 - Reports a record 2.8 billion pound ($5.5 billion) annual profit.
May 2008 - Agrees to buy rival garden center owner Tom Hunter out of Dobbies Garden Centres, ending a long-running ownership battle and paving the way for Dobbies' expansion.
July 2008 - Says it will set up its own full-service retail bank and announces a 950 million pound ($1.9 billion) deal to buy out Royal Bank of Scotland's 50 percent stake in Tesco Personal Finance.
August 2008 - Announces plans to set up stores in India with a wholesale cash-and-carry business and a deal to help Indian conglomerate Tata Group grow its hypermarket business.
September 2008 - Brings in a new low-cost range of 350 products, called Discount Brands at Tesco to compete with budget supermarkets, which are growing in popularity.
September 2008 - Pays $1.9 billion for 36 Homever stores from South Korea's E-Land, allowing Tesco's South Korean discount store business, the second-largest in the country, to expand.
October 2008 - British retailer Woolworths Group says it has agreed to sell leases on up to nine stores to Tesco for up to 9 million pounds ($15.55 million).
January 2009 - Tesco announces the launch of a Web site in the autumn to sell its own clothing ranges.
March 2009 - Wins an appeal against a competition test proposed by regulator that could curb growth in new stores.
April 21, 2009 - Posts a 10 percent rise in underlying annual profit to 3.13 billion pounds ($4.6 billion), a record for a British retailer. Shares jump as much as 5 percent in early trading.
(Writing by Jijo Jacob, Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit; additional writing and editing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Karen Foster)
