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).

Half empty carpark, they were closed halifax :-))

Tesco gets boost as recovery plans become clear
Tue 25 Sep 2012

TSCO - Tesco

Latest Prices
Name Price %
Tesco 339.95p -0.86%

FTSE 100 5,768 -1.56%
FTSE 350 3,075 -1.57%
FTSE All-Share 3,010 -1.55%
FTSEurofirst 300 1,099 -1.86%
Food & Drug Retailers 4,227 -0.98%

LONDON (SHARECAST) - The market appears to buy Tesco’s plans for its under-pressure UK business, after the Chief Executive Philip Clarke admitted Britain’s biggest retailer has a ‘long way to go’ while attending a store opening yesterday (Monday).

Tesco’s shares dropped 20% at the beginning of January following a profit warning. Since then the company has turned in sales figures consistently down on the prior year, while the boss of UK operations, Richard Brasher resigned in March.

News of the supermarket chain's falliblity shocked investors used to Tesco obliterating all opposition through a strategy of rolling store openings and extremely tight pricing.

The firm believes the wheels came off partly because it stopped focusing on the UK. Projects in both the US and Asia came to dominate the headlines but more crucially the domestic store offering was seen to have become jaded.

That’s changing, with a £1bn investment programme underway, more staff being recruited to enhance customers’ in-store experience and data from Tesco’s Clubcard being used to calibrate the offering in each store to reflect more closely the demographic of its area.

The platform for Tesco to deliver all these positive messages was a store reopening in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, attended by Chief Executive Philip Clarke and a bevy of journalists. The context though is difficult. The competition has upped its game and Tesco saw its market share drop from 30.9% in April 2011 to 30.7% in April this year.

It may seem like a small drop but after years of expansion, these are worrying times for Tesco. Nevertheless, with a new strategy in place, the stock has risen nearly 10% in the last three months and, following the Bishops Stortford junket, and consequent press coverage, they have pushed up 0.6% on Tuesday

Love it or hate it, Tesco is major news for investors, and the UK's biggest supermarket is due to report interim figures on Wednesday. The full year ends February 2013, and the consensus of City analysts put the shares, currently priced at 340p, on a forward P/E of 10, falling to 9.5 on 2014 forecasts, which is low. And dividends of around 4.5% are expected this year and next.

Warren Buffett has a big investment in Tesco, but since its poor Christmas trading last year, a lot of people think the wheels might have come off the company's previously inexorable growth. But I think the doomsayers are seeing things too narrowly, and one promotional season gone wrong is not the end of it all. And the big thing many people miss is that Tesco is increasingly an international operator, with a third of its business already outside the UK.

got stopped out yesterday with profit, so will wait and see.,.

looking for about 315p to get back in.,.

I think you are best out Bb and if there is a drop on news head back in.

Half Yearly Report

Financial headlines:

· Group sales up 1.4% to £36.0bn* (up 3.2% at constant rates); Group sales exc. petrol up 1.6% (up 3.7% at constant rates)

· Statutory profit before tax down (11.6)% to £1.7bn; Underlying profit before tax down (8.5)% to £1.8bn

· Group trading profit of £1.6bn, down (10.5)% - UK down (12.4)% to £1.1bn; International down (17.1)% to £0.4bn; Tesco Bank up 114% to £94m

· Underlying diluted EPS reduction of (7.9)%**

· Interim dividend per share maintained at 4.63p

· Group capital expenditure brought down from £2.1bn to £1.6bn; on track for a full year reduction to c.£3.2bn

Business update:

· UK plan implementation underway, with improvements in UK sales performance, including like-for-like sales growth in second quarter

· Reduced new UK space programme on track; greater focus on Express, with 60 new stores in H1

· Grocery online business continues to outperform, growing by 11% in the UK; dotcom now launched in Poland and Slovakia, with Thailand and Malaysia launching soon

· Tesco Bank migration successfully completed onto new, modern platforms; mortgages launched

· Majority of businesses in Asia and Europe gained or held share, in tough external environment

· United States losses reduced slightly to £(72)m at constant rates; actions taken to reduce losses further in the second half

· Successful property transactions completed in Thailand and Korea, raising c.£700m proceeds

· Japanese market exit deal agreed with Aeon

Share holders will now press to ditch USA operations

tquite a steady day today considering - but results were expected

hasn't dipped as i expected but stayed very steady at 331p.,.

nice profit on our short as predicted.

Tesco: analysts comment
Wed 03 Oct 2012

TSCO - Tesco

Latest Prices
Name Price %
Tesco 328.60p -2.41%

FTSE 100 5,820 +0.18%
FTSE 350 3,104 +0.13%
FTSE All-Share 3,038 +0.13%
FTSEurofirst 300 1,100 -0.13%
Food & Drug Retailers 4,125 -1.56%

LONDON (SHARECAST) - We’ve assembled the views of some leading analysts on the prospects for Tesco, along with their price targets.


Philip Dorgan at Panmure Gordon

“We are buyers of Tesco, with a target price of 440p, because we believe that its UK business is fixable and because we believe that management buys into the need for strategic change that will help to make the sector investable again.”


Nick Coulter at Nomura

“Tesco UK posted its first (incrementally) positive like-for-like for six quarters. Moreover, Tesco met its guidance for a circa 5.2% margin, and reaffirmed its target for a similar H2 margin. With inflation moderating, we view the data point as further evidence that Tesco’s volume-led recovery is underway.”
Hence his ‘Buy’ recommendation with a price target of 430p.


Kate Calvert at Seymour Pierce

“…given potential longer term growth, there is no visibility on where UK profitability will bottom and whether management actions will work in the medium term. In addition, too many of its overseas businesses face trading issues short term. We reiterate our reduce recommendation as we expect inflation to return which has proved not to be positive for volumes or margin given the maturity of the UK market.” She has a ‘Reduce’ recommendation with a price target of 310p.


Andrew Kasoulis at Credit Suisse

“With consensus already drifting lower ahead of today, further downgrades should not be a surprise. But the scale of the slowdown in Europe and Korea is disappointing. Also, although Tesco has not formally revised its ROCE target (14.6% for 2014/15E), we think most analysts and investors will now consider it unachievable. On the plus side, improvement in the UK and more capital discipline are likely to be considered positive.” He has a ‘Neutral’ rating with a price target of 370p.

TSCO is being attacked from above (Sainsbury and Waitrose) and below (Aldi and Liddle), nowhere for them to go.

dont forget morrisons :-0

Tesco still has one bomb, a HUGE price war. HUGE being the word. No supermarket would want this. This has been talked about in the past, may be used if the turn around fails.

Where's the bottom---315----310----300p

bb with little or no growth prospects TSCO must be headed sub 300p.

they're certainly under a lot of pressure and competion.,.

Put your money in sains Bb. lol

LONDON (ShareCast) - Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) shares continued to fall on Thursday, following a disappointing set of second quarter results from the supermarket giant the previous day. Knocking investor sentiment further was broker Exane BNP Paribas, which cut its targe on the stock from 325p to 300p, and maintained its underperform rating.