Tesco this morning revealed a 17% rise in annual profit at £2.21 billion.


The company said it is to release up to £5 billion from its property portfolio via sale and leaseback deals over the next five years.


The company revealed underlying sales growth had slowed in its key UK market in recent weeks amid evidence that leading rivals such as J Sainsbury have been luring customers.


Tesco, the world's third-biggest grocer, said pre-tax profit in the year to February 25th rose to a record £2.21 billion from £1.89 billion, on turnover up 13.2% at £41.819 billion.


Analysts had forecast profit of around £2.18 billion.

These results represent good progress across the group in a more challenging year

CEO, Terry Leahy, said in a statement.


Tesco said same-store sales in the UK, excluding petrol, rose by 4% in the final seven weeks of the period, compared with a 5.5% rise in the previous seven weeks.


Tesco proposed a 16% rise in its final dividend to 6.1p, giving a 14.2% rise in its full-year payout, and said it intends to increase its dividend in line with earnings as part of a drive to boost shareholder returns.


The stock is currently trading lower down 1.45% at 322.00.


The FTSE100 is currently up 22.5 points at 6,121.2 with the FTSE250 up 40.1 points at 9,989.3 and the AIM100 7.9 points higher at 6,465.8