FCA to investigate Tesco after £250m accounting error

[Unix]

They still going down, towards 190 now.

[Martin@AS Financial]

Ananlyst opinions here:


Tesco


Stand out one is from Tony Shiret at Espirito Santo - “We believe that Tesco could eventually generate zero profits in the UK … We think a turnaround at Tesco could take another three to five years.”

[CheeseSlice]

Ananlyst opinions here:


Tesco


Stand out one is from Tony Shiret at Espirito Santo - “We believe that Tesco could eventually generate zero profits in the UK … We think a turnaround at Tesco could take another three to five years.”

Quite funny that their analysis is fairly brief and avoids talking about the accounting irregularities. ES isn't exactly one to talk on this

[original PM]

Another of the main things that is wrong with the UK.

Shall we just clarify that it was no 'mistake'.

It was clearly these 4 execs trying to cover this up so they could get their bonuses on top of their 6 figure salaries and then move onto another over paid job they were useless at.

Whilst the poor saps on the shop floor will get minimal redundancy pay when the inevitable cuts come.

These people should never be allowed to hold any position of exec authority again for showing they have the scruples of a spoilt ten year old.

Having said that 250 million is not that much really...

[Batcher]

Their model, of huge out-of-town superstores, doesn't seem to translate well to the emerging trend of web-ordered home deliveries

So maybe the sharp thing for them to do is convert some of those stores to warehouses.

They bought huge tracts of land on the outskirts of towns trying to ensure other supermarkets couldn't build on it to give them competition. Inverness has 4 Tesco stores despite being a very small city.

[SueEllen]

They bought huge tracts of land on the outskirts of towns trying to ensure other supermarkets couldn't build on it to give them competition. Inverness has 4 Tesco stores despite being a very small city.

This is one of the reasons some lefties want a land value tax. It stops companies like Tesco buying up land and doing absolutely nothing with it. Also the way Tesco brought up some land was disgusting - not far from me they brought land by private treaty i.e. the land didn't go on the open market so other companies didn't know it was available. Oh and the land has been empty for over 12 years.....

[CheeseSlice]

Some think that ex-CEO Phil Clarke may have his fingerprints on this (CEO from 2011 until 1/9/2014).
Sounds like a complete clueless nutter too.

Tesco in crisis:
Tesco in crisis: ‘Phil Clarke’s legacy skulks around corridors like a bad smell’

Cut Mr Clarke open and he bleeds Tesco. A former shelf stacker, he learned from his store-manager father and built his way to the top of the chain. But when he took over from Sir Terry Leahy it quickly became apparent that his predecessor had over-expanded abroad, to the detriment of the UK business. Meanwhile, UK customers’ fondness for out-of-town shopping had evaporated.

However, Mr Clarke was not blameless and the hospital pass he received quickly turned from outpatient to critical care.

People who worked for him called the Liverpudlian a hard taskmaster; openly shouting at executives in front of staff and surrounding himself with a cabal of supporters. Suspended Mr Bush was seen as his protégé.

Many of the executives who helped Sir Terry build his legacy soon became frustrated with Mr Clarke and left. Earlier this year it became apparent that Mr Clarke was not up to the job.

He had no reply to the rise and rise of discounters Aldi and Lidl, spent billions refreshing stores that continued to shed customers and launched a price war that failed to grab shoppers’ attentions.

There is no suggestion that Mr Clarke played any part in yesterday’s profit warning but clearly he has questions to answer about what he knew and how he let standards slip under his watch.

Ruling with an iron fist, some have suggested he put fear into colleagues to produce results, which could have contributed to some of the behaviour exposed yesterday.

[DodgyAgent]

Some think that ex-CEO Phil Clarke may have his fingerprints on this (CEO from 2011 until 1/9/2014).
Sounds like a complete clueless nutter too.

Tesco in crisis:
Tesco in crisis: ‘Phil Clarke’s legacy skulks around corridors like a bad smell’

Leahy left at the right time. It was Leahy that initiated the bullying of suppliers. Phil Clarke merely continued with Leahys dodgy legacy.

[SueEllen]

Ahh that explains why Tesco customer service is tulip. the staff would clock off the tills and go home even if the store had loads of customers waiting to be served. I've never seen this in any of the other supermarkets - in fact in Sainsburys when the same situation happened there was no issue with the staff being sure that they would get paid for the extra hours.

Maybe if Phil Clarke did the weekly family shop he would have been aware of things like this and would have also worked out that people don't want things like 10 different types of hummus a every ******* price point. And this is ignoring the sizes. The one thing Waitrose does at one end of the market and Lidl and Aldi at the other end also do, is limit choice on products like this.

[Martin@AS Financial]

Mike Ashley's Sports Direct takes a punt on Tesco's share price:

Mike Ashley's Sports Direct takes a punt on Tesco's share price | City A.M.