Customers taking advantage of Tesco’s Clubcard Fuel Save campaign are already receiving an average of 6ppl off fuel, just one month after it rolled out the scheme across its UK estate.

In annual results announced on Wednesday April 16 it said it launched the scheme nationwide on March 12, adding: “As expected, this initiative will take time to build but already the average saving for our customers is six pence per litre.”

The scheme offers customers 2ppl off a single fuel transaction for each £50 spent in store, and does not involve vouchers but instead is operated through the Tesco Clubcard.

Savings can be redeemed straight away or accumulated with subsequent transactions over a calendar month with a cap on the discount of 20ppl. Savings not used in the first month can be used any time during the subsequent month.

The progress of the scheme was revealed as Tesco published its annual results for the 52 weeks ended 22 February 2014. They showed that overall sales in the UK, including its One Stop convenience stores and franchises, were down 0.1% on the previous year to £48.2bn, and profits fell by 3.6% to £2.2bn.

On a like-for-like basis sales were down 2% for the year, but fuel dragged this figure down as stripping out ‘petrol’ reduced the like-for-like sales decline to 1.3%.

The supermarket giant also revealed that it opened 128 Express convenience stores during the year and refreshed almost 200. It plans to open a further 150 Express stores next year and refresh another 450.