Group performance

Continuing operations 2006 2005
Sales (inc VAT) £17,317m £16,364m
Sales (ex VAT) £16,061m £15,202m
Underlying operating profit 2 £342m £325m
Underlying profit before tax 3 £267m £238m
Profit/(loss) before tax £104m £(238)m
Profit/(loss) after tax £58m £(187)m
Underlying earnings per share 4 10.50p 8.30p
Basic earnings/(losses) per share 3.80p (17.40p)
Proposed dividend per share 5 8.00p 7.80p

Colleagues

Store estate

000 sq ft +40 25 - 40 15 - 25 under 15 Total
Convenience - - - 297 297
Supermarket 1661 168 88 33 455
Total 1661 168 88 330 752
  1. Includes 26 stores over 55,000 sq ft.
  2. Underlying operating profit: underlying profit before tax from continuing operations before finance income and finance costs.
  3. Underlying profit before tax from continuing operations: profit before tax from continuing operations before any gain or loss on the sale of properties, impairment of goodwill, financing fair value movements and one off items that are material and infrequent in nature. In the current financial year, these one off items were the Business Review costs, IT insourcing costs and debt restructuring costs. In the prior financial year, these one off items were the Business Review and Transformation costs.
  4. Underlying basic earnings per share: profit after tax from continuing operations attributable to equity holders before any gain or loss on the sale of properties, impairment of goodwill, financing fair value movements and one off items that are material and infrequent in nature, divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year, excluding those held by the ESOP Trusts, which are treated as cancelled.
  5. Proposed dividend per share: total proposed dividend per share in relation to the financial year.