UK finance watchdog launches probe into Tesco’s profit debacle
Tesco was put under further pressure yesterday after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had launched a full investigation into the Tesco accounting scandal that had knocked £4bn off its market value.
Britain’s biggest supermarket stunned the City after revealing last week that it had overstated first-half profits by £250m.
The accounting error, which relates to the way it books income from suppliers, further underlined the scale of the challenge facing new chief executive Dave Lewis, and marks Tesco’s third profit warning in four months.
“Tesco will continue to co operate fully with the FCA and other relevant authorities considering this matter,” the company said.
Deloitte is already conducting an independent investigation for the supermarket. The chairman of the parliament’s business select committee, Adrian Bailey, also said last week that he might want to grill Tesco’s top executives about the scandal.
Meanwhile, Lewis has emailed staff at Tesco’s headquarters to inform them of an initiative to boost morale that will require them to work one day every two weeks in one of its stores in the run-up to Christmas, according to Sky News.