Tesco dodgy dealings?
Discussion
Megaflow said:
It will be interesting to see where they move head office to.
Surely to the WGC campus. Whilst not salubrious, it is palatial compared to the s
thole that is Delamare Road. Tesco's global HQ is the white building in the middle of this image...
jogon said:
Shares back above £2 too.
Tesco has launched radical turnaround plans including the closure of its head office, pension scheme and 40-plus unprofitable stores, while slashing prices on some of its top products.Investors welcomed the plan to get the firm back on track. Tesco shares leapt 10 per cent by 11.30am, to rise back above 200p, after it announced it would close one of its main headquarters in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and move entirely to the other one in Welwyn Garden City in 2016, as part of an overhaul aimed at saving £250million a year.
In addition to shutting shops, the group announced a 'significant revision' to its store-building programme.
It is also selling Tesco Broadband and UK download business Blinkbox to TalkTalk and exploring options for the disposal of its dunhumby customer data business, as well as axing payment of a final dividend for 2014/15.
The raft of announcements came as the supermarket group fired the latest salvo in a New Year price war by cutting the cost of some of its best-known products.
Analysts have raised the possibility of floating dunnhumby, the architects of Tesco's comprehensive data on customer behaviour and ClubCard. It has become a highly profitable business with £100million of profits on £500million of revenue, according to Tesco figures, and insight into 770million consumers and over 20 retail partners.
Slated for closure: Tesco will abandon its Cheshunt head office and move to Welwyn Garden City in 2016
soad said:
jogon said:
Shares back above £2 too.
Tesco has launched radical turnaround plans including the closure of its head office, pension scheme and 40-plus unprofitable stores, while slashing prices on some of its top products.Investors welcomed the plan to get the firm back on track. Tesco shares leapt 10 per cent by 11.30am, to rise back above 200p, after it announced it would close one of its main headquarters in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and move entirely to the other one in Welwyn Garden City in 2016, as part of an overhaul aimed at saving £250million a year.
In addition to shutting shops, the group announced a 'significant revision' to its store-building programme.
It is also selling Tesco Broadband and UK download business Blinkbox to TalkTalk and exploring options for the disposal of its dunhumby customer data business, as well as axing payment of a final dividend for 2014/15.
The raft of announcements came as the supermarket group fired the latest salvo in a New Year price war by cutting the cost of some of its best-known products.
Analysts have raised the possibility of floating dunnhumby, the architects of Tesco's comprehensive data on customer behaviour and ClubCard. It has become a highly profitable business with £100million of profits on £500million of revenue, according to Tesco figures, and insight into 770million consumers and over 20 retail partners.
Slated for closure: Tesco will abandon its Cheshunt head office and move to Welwyn Garden City in 2016
schmunk said:
Megaflow said:
It will be interesting to see where they move head office to.
Surely to the WGC campus. Whilst not salubrious, it is palatial compared to the sthole that is Delamare Road. Tesco's global HQ is the white building in the middle of this image...
They are treating the staff like s
t, the best thing that can happen is a walk out, people who have been there for a long time and planning their retirement suddenly told Tesco are going to short change them on their pension. Adrian W said:
schmunk said:
Megaflow said:
It will be interesting to see where they move head office to.
Surely to the WGC campus. Whilst not salubrious, it is palatial compared to the sthole that is Delamare Road. Tesco's global HQ is the white building in the middle of this image...
They are treating the staff like s
t, the best thing that can happen is a walk out, people who have been there for a long time and planning their retirement suddenly told Tesco are going to short change them on their pension. Sorry to say that this is just another example of a large employer treating its people like dirt. Its the modern way and all part of the continuing race to the bottom.
This was always going to happen. The Tesco management got it wrong and they became hated by many people, some on here took great delight in their woes, but the truth is everyone who had a pension took a hit and now here is the result.
There will be job losses at head office and at the 40 branches closed as they get back to what made them huge in the first place.
The worry is that the new guy will cut costs and release funds from successful parts that are easy to move on. Once he has done that he will move on leaving a bigger mess for others to follow in future years as they will have less to work with.
As for the pension as I understand it they are closing it to new members, so existing members will be fine, but there is a £2.5 billion shortfall at present so unsustainable.
The country needs British companies who pay tax here, not Aldi and Lidl who tax their profits home to other countries.
There will be job losses at head office and at the 40 branches closed as they get back to what made them huge in the first place.
The worry is that the new guy will cut costs and release funds from successful parts that are easy to move on. Once he has done that he will move on leaving a bigger mess for others to follow in future years as they will have less to work with.
As for the pension as I understand it they are closing it to new members, so existing members will be fine, but there is a £2.5 billion shortfall at present so unsustainable.
The country needs British companies who pay tax here, not Aldi and Lidl who tax their profits home to other countries.
Tesco shares soar as overhaul unveiled
Andrea Felsted and David Oakley
Tesco has unveiled the most radical overhaul in its 96-year history, as the chief executive of Britain’s biggest retailer set out a blueprint for recovery, including closing the head office, slashing thousands of jobs and scrapping this year’s dividend.
Dave Lewis, who was parachuted in to Tesco in July after his predecessor was ousted, said he would close 43 unprofitable stores and cancel 49 new developments that “we quite simply cannot afford” as part of plans to cut overheads by 30 per cent.
Investors welcomed the plans, sending shares in Tesco 15 per cent higher — the most they have risen in a single day since 1988.
One top-10 shareholder supported the overhaul “so that prices in the store can come down”, saying Tesco had to become more competitive “like it was five years ago”.
The restructuring follows a torrid six months for Tesco, which admitted last September that its half-year profit had been overstated by £250m and suspended several senior managers. A month later, it said the overstatement was £263m and parted company with its chairman.
The plans were unveiled on Thursday as Tesco said sales from stores open at least a year fell 2.9 per cent in the 19 weeks to January 3. Like-for-like sales fell 0.3 per cent in the six-week Christmas trading period.
The retailer has issued four profit warnings in the past six months — the latest in December, when it said profits in the year to the end of February would be no more than £1.4bn.
As part of the shake-up, Matt Davies, the former chief executive of Halfords who has been credited with turning round the car parts retailer, has been appointed to run Tesco’s UK business, which accounts for the majority of sales.
Mr Lewis, dubbed “Drastic Dave” for his radical overhaul of Unilever businesses, said he would begin a consultation on closing Tesco’s defined benefit pension scheme — one of several measures designed to save £250m a year.
He said the symbolic move to shut down the retailer’s sprawling 1970s Cheshunt headquarters and relocate to its nearby Welwyn Garden City office would make Tesco more “agile”.
But some analysts questioned whether Mr Lewis had done enough to stem the outflow of shoppers. Tesco is under pressure from the rise of the German no-frills supermarkets, Aldi and Lidl, and an escalating price war.
“We wonder whether the eventual verdict of the City . . . will be too little too late,” said Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst.
Some local communities slammed the decision to scrap new store developments, mainly large out-of-town supermarkets.
Pat McFadden, MP for Wolverhampton South East, described Tesco’s decision to pull out of a £60m store development and regeneration project as “a clear breach of a promise, a breach of trust”.
“This is not just about Tesco’s accounting position. This is about corporate citizenship, the degree to which this company can be trusted,” he said. “They may have satisfied their investors today but I think their problems in terms of relationships with communities have increased.”
Mr Lewis said Tesco would look to sell or float Dunnhumby, the data analysis group that runs its Clubcard loyalty scheme. The retailer has also agreed a deal for telecoms group TalkTalk to acquire Blinkbox, the lossmaking movie streaming service, and Tesco Broadband.
Andrea Felsted and David Oakley
Tesco has unveiled the most radical overhaul in its 96-year history, as the chief executive of Britain’s biggest retailer set out a blueprint for recovery, including closing the head office, slashing thousands of jobs and scrapping this year’s dividend.
Dave Lewis, who was parachuted in to Tesco in July after his predecessor was ousted, said he would close 43 unprofitable stores and cancel 49 new developments that “we quite simply cannot afford” as part of plans to cut overheads by 30 per cent.
Investors welcomed the plans, sending shares in Tesco 15 per cent higher — the most they have risen in a single day since 1988.
One top-10 shareholder supported the overhaul “so that prices in the store can come down”, saying Tesco had to become more competitive “like it was five years ago”.
The restructuring follows a torrid six months for Tesco, which admitted last September that its half-year profit had been overstated by £250m and suspended several senior managers. A month later, it said the overstatement was £263m and parted company with its chairman.
The plans were unveiled on Thursday as Tesco said sales from stores open at least a year fell 2.9 per cent in the 19 weeks to January 3. Like-for-like sales fell 0.3 per cent in the six-week Christmas trading period.
The retailer has issued four profit warnings in the past six months — the latest in December, when it said profits in the year to the end of February would be no more than £1.4bn.
As part of the shake-up, Matt Davies, the former chief executive of Halfords who has been credited with turning round the car parts retailer, has been appointed to run Tesco’s UK business, which accounts for the majority of sales.
Mr Lewis, dubbed “Drastic Dave” for his radical overhaul of Unilever businesses, said he would begin a consultation on closing Tesco’s defined benefit pension scheme — one of several measures designed to save £250m a year.
He said the symbolic move to shut down the retailer’s sprawling 1970s Cheshunt headquarters and relocate to its nearby Welwyn Garden City office would make Tesco more “agile”.
But some analysts questioned whether Mr Lewis had done enough to stem the outflow of shoppers. Tesco is under pressure from the rise of the German no-frills supermarkets, Aldi and Lidl, and an escalating price war.
“We wonder whether the eventual verdict of the City . . . will be too little too late,” said Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst.
Some local communities slammed the decision to scrap new store developments, mainly large out-of-town supermarkets.
Pat McFadden, MP for Wolverhampton South East, described Tesco’s decision to pull out of a £60m store development and regeneration project as “a clear breach of a promise, a breach of trust”.
“This is not just about Tesco’s accounting position. This is about corporate citizenship, the degree to which this company can be trusted,” he said. “They may have satisfied their investors today but I think their problems in terms of relationships with communities have increased.”
Mr Lewis said Tesco would look to sell or float Dunnhumby, the data analysis group that runs its Clubcard loyalty scheme. The retailer has also agreed a deal for telecoms group TalkTalk to acquire Blinkbox, the lossmaking movie streaming service, and Tesco Broadband.
Reading a bit more it has indeed closed the scheme, however any rights built up so far have to be protected. This will affect those who are close to retirement more than others.
Those already receiving money will still get theirs.
They will start a stakeholder pension scheme which does not have a Defined Benefit, it will be subject to the same as most private pensions.
It is one of the last FS schemes to end after Gordon Brown did his raid on funds some years ago.
I do say again those who rejoiced at Tesco in trouble forget those who pay the price are staff and all of us with Pensions linked to the stock market. Let us hope he can stop the slide and make it good again, it will be a long haul and more pain along the way. Suppliers will be getting calls as they reduce the choice and focus on a handful of smaller range and get the prices down for them.
Those already receiving money will still get theirs.
They will start a stakeholder pension scheme which does not have a Defined Benefit, it will be subject to the same as most private pensions.
It is one of the last FS schemes to end after Gordon Brown did his raid on funds some years ago.
I do say again those who rejoiced at Tesco in trouble forget those who pay the price are staff and all of us with Pensions linked to the stock market. Let us hope he can stop the slide and make it good again, it will be a long haul and more pain along the way. Suppliers will be getting calls as they reduce the choice and focus on a handful of smaller range and get the prices down for them.
Adrian W said:
They are closing the pension full stop, and stopping any more contributions, most of the people in that scheme are directors and senior managers who have gone but get most of the pot, the poor buggers who are left with the crumbs are being made to suffer for it .
Really?I heard that the defined benefit scheme was to be closed to new members - nothing more.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/re...
Sign of the times and a 'quick win' for the new boss who may stand to make a few quid personally out of this (closure of the DB scheme) through generating increased PAT and shareholder return, albeit at the expense of other 'stakeholders'.
And if/when share prices perk up - the institutional investors aka 'pension funds' should benefit - or is it that the 'fund managers' will benefit personally?
Adrian W said:
schmunk said:
Megaflow said:
It will be interesting to see where they move head office to.
Surely to the WGC campus. Whilst not salubrious, it is palatial compared to the sthole that is Delamare Road. Tesco's global HQ is the white building in the middle of this image...
They are treating the staff like s
t, the best thing that can happen is a walk out, people who have been there for a long time and planning their retirement suddenly told Tesco are going to short change them on their pension. The current buildings at WGC (1, 2 & 3) were, at the time, at capacity so it's likely that the plan for a new building at WGC is currently in motion.
Id say they're shutting the HQ with the highest wage bill and offering the workers new contracts or redundancy.
They did the same to a Scottish DC years ago, iirc it was one of the highest paid DCs, so the built a new one down the road and offered new contracts or redundancies. So of the drivers lost upto 5k a year iirc, but that was in the early 2000s when I worked at the Soton DC
They did the same to a Scottish DC years ago, iirc it was one of the highest paid DCs, so the built a new one down the road and offered new contracts or redundancies. So of the drivers lost upto 5k a year iirc, but that was in the early 2000s when I worked at the Soton DC
sleep envy said:
Back in 2007 I was involved in developing a new office building on a temporary car park on Falcon Way at WGC as they were looking to consolidate in one location but for certain reasons the scheme was shelved.
The current buildings at WGC (1, 2 & 3) were, at the time, at capacity so it's likely that the plan for a new building at WGC is currently in motion.
Shire Park site has a few more Tesco buildings than that, as well as Cirrus A, B and C they have Progress House, Falcon Way 1 and 5 and they also rent office space in one other building on Falcon Way.The current buildings at WGC (1, 2 & 3) were, at the time, at capacity so it's likely that the plan for a new building at WGC is currently in motion.
I wonder if they'll be moving out of the other buildings on Delamare Road?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-08/tesco-cut...
Tesco Plc (TSCO) was cut to below investment grade at Moody’s Investors Service, dealing a blow to Chief Executive Officer Dave Lewis on the day he unveiled efforts to stabilize Britain’s biggest retailer.
The move will probably add to the grocer’s borrowing costs and increase pressure on Lewis to raise capital quickly, either by divesting businesses or selling new shares. The CEO said today that there was no need for a fire sale of assets, describing Tesco’s funding and liquidity as “really robust” after the company secured a 5 billion-pound ($7.5 billion) loan last year.
Tesco Plc (TSCO) was cut to below investment grade at Moody’s Investors Service, dealing a blow to Chief Executive Officer Dave Lewis on the day he unveiled efforts to stabilize Britain’s biggest retailer.
The move will probably add to the grocer’s borrowing costs and increase pressure on Lewis to raise capital quickly, either by divesting businesses or selling new shares. The CEO said today that there was no need for a fire sale of assets, describing Tesco’s funding and liquidity as “really robust” after the company secured a 5 billion-pound ($7.5 billion) loan last year.
Profits down 55%, I'm not particularly surprised or disappointed: http://news.sky.com/story/1565141/tesco-half-year-profits-fall-55-percent-to-354m.
And thanks to their questionable accounting the next set of results may not be much better if the SFO gets its way: Tesco in 'secret talks' with fraud office over accounting black hole.
And thanks to their questionable accounting the next set of results may not be much better if the SFO gets its way: Tesco in 'secret talks' with fraud office over accounting black hole.
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff