Tesco has confirmed its commitment to growing its non-food stores in its preliminary results statement for 2009/2010.
The retailer, which recorded a 12.3% growth in group trading profit to £3,412m, said it aimed to be as strong in non-food as it is in food as part of its ongoing strategy.

Tesco currently operates 13 Homeplus stores, which sell a vast range of non-food merchandise, including homewares, bikes and computers. The first Homeplus store was launched in Manchester in 2005, with the most recent outlets opening in Nottingham and Edinburgh in November 2008.

However, while Asda confirmed last week that it is aiming to become the UK's biggest non-food retailer by growing the number of its Asda Living stores to 150, Tesco has confirmed to DIY Week that it has no plans to open any more Homeplus outlets at this stage.

A Tesco spokesman told DIY Week: "We haven't got any more Homeplus openings planned, but we're very pleased with their performance."

Tesco's group non-food sales rose 6.2% to £13.1bn, with £9bn in the UK and £4.1bn in international. The results statement said: "We delivered a very strong non-food performance in the UK with steadily improving like-for-like sales growth during the year."

Electricals was a category which showed particularly strong growth for the retailer, but the UK launch of Best Buy, which has been brought forward to next week, could pose a substantial threat.

The US retail giant has confirmed that its first UK store will open at the Lakeside shopping centre in Thurrock on April 30, several days ahead of schedule. Three further stores will follow this summer in Southampton, Liverpool and Merry Hill in the West Midlands, with a fifth store due to open in Croydon in the autumn.

However, Tesco remains confident in the success of its electricals range and has announced plans to double its staff for its electricals departments.

A spokesman said: "We've grown our electricals through the recession, doubling our sales in four years by investing in price and greater ranges for our customers, and we will continue to do that. We've got more than a thousand trained advisors to help customers with purchases and installations, and we have plans for a thousand more. We're very much aware that customers appreciate the service we offer."

Rival retailer DGSi has also responded to the arrival of Best Buy with an overhaul of its PC World and Currys stores.