Tesco is one of the worlds leading international retailers. Since the company first the trading name of Tesco, in the mid 1920s, the group has expanded into different formats, different markets and different sectors. The UKs leading retailer Tesco was floated on the stock exchange in 1947 and in 1995 took over rival Sainsburys position as the UK number one. The principal activity of the group is food retailing, with over 2,000 stores worldwide. Tesco has a long term strategy for growth, based on four key parts: growth in the Core UK business, to expand by growing internationally, to be as strong in non-food as in food and to follow customers into new retailing services. The company launched a home shopping service in 2000, allowing customers to order their shopping online. Tesco is now expanding its convenience stores and overseas into areas such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Poland, the US and Ireland.

Upper graph = 12 month share price with 6 month moving average
Lower graph = 12 month volume (red line = volume average).

I'd settle for 240p atm!

Deutsche Bank Buy 208.65 208.65 275.00 240.00 Reiterates

Aldi-surge-goes-snaps-heels-Britain-s-five-supermarkets

/tesco-sainsburys-morrisons-cant-keep-cutting-prices

telegraph,Tescos-lost-decade

In addition, credit default swaps on Tesco – which effectively measure the chances of a company going bust – have remained stubbornly high. They are trading at 175, down from 217.7 in January but well above the 80 that Tesco traded at last year and the low of seven hit in 2007. At current levels, traders are calculating there is a 2pc chance that Tesco will go bust, high for a company of its size.

There are murmurs of concern in the City about the progress that Tesco has made in lowering its debt, and the prices being quoted for the assets it is looking to sell off. The potential sale price for Dunnhumby, the data business behind Clubcard, is now thought to be around £1bn, half what was initially expected, while rumours around the sale of Tesco’s Korean business have priced it at $6bn (£3.9bn), when analysts expected closer to £5bn.

At the same time, Tesco’s sales are still falling, according to industry figures despite significant investment into cutting prices.

Telegraph,Tesco-needs-more-than-5bn-to-rebuild-balance-sheet

Reuters -

Tesco's nascent UK recovery seen stalling

LONDON | By James Davey
Business News | Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:33pm BST

The head office of Tesco is seen in Cheshunt, in southern England January 8, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville


The head office of Tesco is seen in Cheshunt, in southern England January 8, 2015.

Reuters/Toby Melville



Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco (TSCO.L), is expected to report next week that a tentative recovery in its key home market has stalled.

Its sales update on Friday, ahead of a potentially stormy annual shareholders' meeting later in the day, could also see new boss Dave Lewis formally announce that the supermarket operator is examining the possible disposal of its South Korean business, Homeplus.

Tesco has hired HSBC (HSBA.L) to explore the sale of the South Korean unit, the group's biggest business outside Britain, people familiar with the matter told Reuters this month.

Former Unilver executive Lewis, brought in last September to lead a turnaround in the company, is cutting costs and selling assets as he seeks to reduce the firm's 8.5 billion pounds ($13.5 billion) of net debt.

Analysts forecast a 2-3 percent drop in sales at British stores open over a year over the 13 weeks to May 30, the first quarter of Tesco's 2015/16 fiscal year.

That would be worse than the 1.2 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2014/15, when the group recorded growth in UK like-for-like sales volumes for the first time in over four years, driven by price cuts and moves to improve product availability and customer service.

Analysts, however, point out that first quarter comparatives are tough because the same period last year saw aggressive vouchering activity when previous CEO Philip Clarke's team was trying to prop up sales.

Lewis has repeatedly cautioned that Tesco's recovery will not be a straight line.

Analysts at Barclays said a UK like-for-like sales outcome of down 2.3 percent would be a reasonable performance in the context of deflation and rivals' performances, beating Asda (down 3.9 percent) and Morrisons (down 2.9 percent) in their most recent quarters and only slightly behind Sainsbury's (SBRY.L) (down 2.1 percent).

In common with its major rivals, Tesco is battling to win back ground lost to discounters Aldi and Lidl. All players are also having to deal with record falls in product prices.

In April Tesco reported a 2014-15 group trading profit of 1.4 billion pounds, down nearly 60 percent, and said it may struggle to hit even that level in the 2015-16 year.

Industry data published this month showed Tesco's total UK sales fell 1.3 percent in the 12 weeks to May 24. That partly reflected store closures announced by Lewis in January that have now taken place.

Some investors at Friday's annual meeting may well be ready to vent their anger at Tesco management after a nightmare year, during which it issued four profit warnings, reported a record loss and saw its share price slump by over a quarter. It has also been tarnished by an accounting scandal.

However, of Tesco's board of 11 directors only four survive from last year's AGM and of that four, none hold executive positions and two will step down after the meeting.

Trading Statement

TRADING STATEMENT for 13 weeks ended 30 May 2015

• UK like-for-like sales performance improved to (1.3)% despite significant
deflation and the impact of reduced couponing
• UK like-for-like volumes up 1.4%; transactions up 1.3%; 180,000 more
customers shopping with us*
• Like-for-like sales growth in Central Europe and Turkey; Central European
restructure largely complete
• Some improvement in performance in Asia, in challenging market conditions
• Short-term volatility remains; transformation programme progressing

aldi-sales up 17% yet-tesco-plc-wm-morrison-supermarkets-plc-j-sainsbury-plc-see-sales-fall


Kantar reckons that Aldi's market share has grown to 5.6% and Lidl's to 4%, so a 9.6% share of the UK grocery market between the two. This is something we should give our full attention.

Tesco-shares-tipped-fall-again

But the euphoria around new CEO Dave Lewis and hope of a fightback early this year has fizzled out. A 20% slump in the share price since April may not be the end of it.

tesco-share-price-fall-supermarkets-suffer-third-day-amid-renewed-concerns-about-discounters-aldi

How completely out of touch is the opening post of this thread.

Banking Crash has taken a few with it since 2007.

When to step in and Buy is the real condundrum now!!

Or just stay well clear?

theguardian, tesco-rescue-has-dave-lewiss-first-year-been-a-success

International

Discounters set to eat Tesco´s lunch, JP Morgan says

Wed, 02 September 2015




Sainsbury (J) Quote more



Price: 238.20

Chg: 0.30

Chg %: 0.13%

Date: 15:15



FTSE 100 Quote


Price: 6,123.65 Chg: 65.11 Chg %: 1.07% Date: 15:15

(ShareCast News) - The UK´s 'Big 4' food retailers pose "a rather structural threat" for the industry, according to JP Morgan.
In Ireland, Aldi and Lidl already have 18% of the market in the bag - alongside 8% of the UK market in the till - and are continuing to grow their market shares the fastest.

Tesco on the other hand is out of love and continues to sport the largest declines.

Compounding matters, the Big 4´s margins are being trod underfoot by the worst possible combination, top-line deflation together with cost inflation (rents, wages and pensions), the bank´s analysts pointed out in a research note e-mailed to clients.

On the other side of the aisle, Aldi and Lidl are offering some tough competition. At Aldi, personnel, depreciation and rent expense amount to an approximately combined 9% of sales - versus more than 15% at the company founded by Jack Cohen in 1919.

That means that Asda, Morrison, J.Sainsbury and Tesco will find it harder to narrow the 'price gap' versus their competitors.

Indeed, Sainsbury´s recent decision to raise salaries by 4% for 60% of its workforce will be followed by the other big grocers, proof of how 'thin' the wage architecture of instore employees is in the rest of the industry.

Following on from the above, the broker lifted its target price on Tesco´s shares to 175p (from 160p), on Sainsbury´s to 225p (from 200p) and on Morrison´s to 225p (from 200p).

Questor-share-tip-Tesco-is-still-paying-for-its-past-sins.

TESCO AGREES TO SELL HOMEPLUS

Highlights:

· Proposed sale of Homeplus to a group of investors led by MBK Partners and including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited (the "Disposal"), following competitive sale process

· Represents enterprise value of £4,240 million on cash and debt free basis

· Cash consideration of £4,004 million before tax and other transaction costs

· Significant reduction of £4,225 million in Tesco group's total indebtedness from net cash proceeds and associated reduction in capitalised lease and other commitments

· Completion is expected in calendar Q4 2015, conditional on Tesco shareholder approval and regulatory approvals in the Republic of Korea

ShareCast News) - The entire board of Tesco has bought less than £350,000 of shares in the supermarket chain, and chief executive Dave Lewis has yet to buy any, despite being in charge for a year. The lack of share purchases by Lewis and Alan Stewart, the finance director, has raised eyebrows among corporate governance pressure groups and shows that the Tesco executives have not been willing to back their turnaround plan by putting their own money into the retailer. - The Guardian

lidl-living-wage-will-tesco-aldi-others-increase-pay-new-frontier-supermarket-war-

The sp has a lot further to fall. Lidl along with announcing the living wage wants a 1000 stores. A store in near enough every town. Dave Lewis must be under immense pressure as he has now been in the seat for over a year and with up till now no real answers in stopping the loss of market share. I cannot see him lasting, if the rot does not stop fast.


Also Lidl has announced that prices will not be increased to accommodate the living wage increase. Tesco will never match this. Every new store opened by Lidl will have Tesco staff queuing at the door if they do not match the wage increase.

Nine-thousand-Lidl-workers-1-2k-year-pay-rise