Simon RobertsThe consistent strength of our customer offer helped deliver volume growth, share gains and profit growth in the first half. Looking to the second half, we expect the market to remain very competitive and we will make deliberate, balanced choices to sustain the strength of our offer, investing in value, quality, availability and service.
Reflecting this alongside our first half performance and the classification of Argos as a discontinued operation, we have adjusted our profit guidance. Our previous guidance of £975 million to £1,075 million would be equivalent to £965 million to £1,065 million on a continuing operations basis, removing Argos’s contribution.
We are now raising the lower end of this range and expect underlying operating profit from continuing operations of between £1,025 million and £1,065 million. We continue to expect to deliver free cash flow of more than £500 million.
