Tesco Plunges To Worst Annual Loss Of £6.38bn!

Tesco made a loss of £6.38bn in its last financial year, the worst in its history and the sixth-biggest announced by a UK company.

The bulk of the statutory loss came from £7bn in one-off charges, the majority in a £3.8bn writedown on the value of its store portfolio "reflecting challenging industry conditions and profit decline," Tesco said.

Chief executive Dave Lewis said the wider results for the year to 28 February reflected "a deterioration in the market and, more significantly, an erosion of our competitiveness over recent years".

The last financial year saw Tesco forced into a string of profit warnings as trading continued to deteriorate amid an industry-wide price war, costing Mr Lewis' predecessor, Philip Clarke, his job.

Trading profit for 2014/15 fell 58% to £1.4bn but the chain said today its like-for-like sales volumes in the UK were now in growth for the first time in four years as Mr Lewis sought to put the customer first and implement wider changes to limit costs.