Tesco share price rises as it confirms Serious Fraud Office has launched a criminal investigation October 29, 2014 The Serious Fraud Office has launched a formal criminal investigation into accounting errors at Tesco which led to a £263m profit black hole. Despite that, shares rose 2.6 per cent in mid-afternoon trading. The SFO had previously said it was “following developments at Tesco with interest” after the supermarket’s profit overstatement was first revealed in [...]
Why companies fail when success becomes routine October 27, 2014 The corporate landscape is littered with companies like Tesco, HP and Sony. Once business trailblazers, they have somehow become pedestrian and their performance has suffered. But why didn’t they spot the signs before their market share and profits started to slip? The simple answer is that, when firms perform well, they try to hardwire the [...]
Tesco’s falling share price eats away at Dave Lewis and Alan Stewart’s bonuses October 27, 2014 Here's another reason for Dave Lewis to be concerned about Tesco's tumbling share price – it's already cost him around a quarter of the bonus accrued at his previous employer Unilever. Tesco bought out awards that both Lewis and new chief financial officer Alan Stewart forfeited from leaving their previous employment, which in the [...]
Best of the Brokers for 27 October 2014 October 26, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com PEARSON Westhouse Securities reiterated its “sell” recommendation following Pearson’s update for the nine months to September which showed declining sales and revenues. The broker said Pearson is “a quality company that should benefit from long-term growth in global learning spend”. SHIRE S&P Capital [...]
Tesco and Next: Two of the six retailers that contributed to the highest number of profit warnings since 2008 October 26, 2014 The number of UK-listed firms issuing profit warnings has risen to its highest summer level since 2008, according to a report by consultancy firm EY. It said 69 warnings were issued by firms during the third quarter of 2014 – a 56 per cent increase from the equivalent period in 2013. Profit warnings [...]
10 things we learned this week: From Tesco’s share price and Facebook’s tax bill to cures for Ebola and the EU budget October 24, 2014 What a week. From troubles at Tesco (not least its share price) to Facebook's UK tax bill, we've had a busy front on company news. And when it came to international goings-on, the EU really kept us on our toes, while Ebola continued to dominate the news. Here we digest the top 10 stories [...]
It’s a hat trick: Standard & Poor’s downgrades Tesco October 24, 2014 Standard & Poor's became the final major credit ratings agency to downgrade Tesco today, when it lowered the supermarket's long-term rating from BBB to BBB-. S&P said the downgrade "reflects our view that Tesco's credit metrics will weaken due to lower profitability". It came after the supermarket, which last month admitted it had "overestimated" profits [...]
Tesco share price drops to its lowest in over a decade October 24, 2014 After a devastating few days for Tesco, it would be understandable if the supermarket’s head honchos woke up this morning thinking things couldn’t get much worse. Unfortunately, though, the misery continued this morning after Tesco’s share price crashed to its lowest price for over a decade. Shares in the stumbling retail giant fell [...]
Battered Tesco is close to junk October 23, 2014 TESCO could be forced to scrap its dividend and sell chunks of its global empire, after its credit rating was downgraded to one notch above junk, driving up the cost of borrowing and underlining its dire financial plight. The warnings came after the supermarket’s profits dived 92 per cent and its chairman announced he was [...]
Tesco is shopping for a new chairman October 23, 2014 SIR RICHARD Broadbent yesterday announced his plans to leave Tesco, and said he felt the need for a demonstration of accountability by the supermarket’s bosses. His decision came as the firm revealed its pre-tax profits had slumped 92 per cent on the year to £112m in the first six months of its financial year. Sales [...]