Tesco has reported strong growth in sales in its preliminary results announcement for 2016/17.

Group sales were up by 4.3% to £49.9bn, while UK like-for-like sales increased by 0.9% - its first reported full year growth since 2009/10. UK like-for-like food sales grew by 1.3%.

The retailer also saw positive volume growth in both the UK and ROI and International businesses.

Group operating profit before exceptional items was up by 30% to £1,280m.

Last month Tesco took a £235m charge after it agreed a deferred prosecution with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for overstating its profits in 2014. This appears as an exceptional charge in the 2016/17 results.

Chief executive Dave Lewis said: “We are ahead of where we expected to be at this stage, having made good progress on all six of the strategic drivers we shared in October.  We are confident that we can build on this strong performance in the year ahead, making further progress towards our medium-term ambitions.”

He continued: “On top of this, our proposed merger with Booker will bring together two complementary businesses, driving additional value for shareholders by realising substantial synergies and enabling us to access the faster growing ‘out of home’ food market.”