Tesco is aiming to generate over half its business overseas as it looks to double sales outside in the UK over the next decade.

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Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy told The Times newspaper that the UK’s largest grocer was “on the threshold of becoming one of the few successful international retailers”.


International markets currently account for around 27% of Tesco’s sales but Sir Terry forecast that a “crossover” – where overseas markets make up a bigger portion of the company’s business than the UK – would happen “within the decade”.


This month, Tesco finally opened its first Fresh & Easy store in the US. However, Sir Terry said Tesco’s international ambitions would not just be limited to across the Atlantic.


“The US is an important part, but it’s by no means the majority. The crossover is not right at the back end of the decade, but neither is it in five years’ time,” Sir Terry told The Times.

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Tesco is mulling whether to enter the Indian market and could expand in Russia. “We keep looking at everywhere,” he told The Times.

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