[Closed] Tesco Six Billion Loss

6bn, quite a lot that innit 😆

In other news Tesco shares up 2%

Morning @rudeboy

Tesco. Classic behaviour from a new CEO, report a massive loss writing your asset values down so you can be shown to fix it all later when you write them back up again. Tesco did indeed expand too rapidly and has been a victim of the rise of the discounters Aldi and Lidl. I have long been a campaigner for small shops run by their owners.

Trader. Bizarre a big exchange like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was so vulnerable to one rouge individual. The fact he was a sole trader from his front room meant there was no organizational structure to monitor what he was doing. Even still the CME should have had the systems in place to stop this kind of abuse. Michael Lewis's book Flash Boys is very interesting BTW.

discounters Aldi and Lidl

Aldi and Lidl don't discount, Tesco, Asda et al are the discounters.

Sounds like most of the loss is the value of the land and property - ie it was estimated to be worth X last year and in the last 12 months they have revalued it as Y. Given they didn't pay X for it in the first place and X and Y are estimated figures. Unless they plan on selling it all (I know they are closing some) it's not quite the same and no one coming through the tills.

I keep hearing on the radio that the move is towards small convenience stores as that is where the demand is. Is this really true - I can't see me ever choosing to spend the vast majority of our weekly grocery spend in a diddy Tesco express rather than a 'proper' sized super market. I can't be alone in that.

@convert - I think there has been a big behavioural shift during the recession, people deliberately going to smaller shops and/or just buying much less as they found the "big shop" meant they overspent and end up throwing stuff away and/or buying items they didn't really need. So multiple small shops per week rather than one big one.

In other news Tesco shares up 2%

Oh di-dums. I cant feel sorrow after all their practices.

they strangled many small towns shops , and its good to see they can taste their own medicine.....

There doesn't appear to be much evidence that the small towns shops which shoppers chose to abandon in favour of Tesco have hit back. Indeed it would appear that it is the discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl and probably Costco who have eaten into Tesco's share of the market by offering even cheaper prices than Tesco.

Good news for shoppers of course, but is it good news for small towns shops (incl. local bike shops), producers, and suppliers?

And do these discount stores have less [i]"smug and patronising attitudes"[/i] than Tesco?

My local Aldi store simply ignored their licence when it suited them :

[url= http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/Aldi-Selsdon-breached-licence-opening-10pm/story-18220694-detail/story.html ]Aldi in Selsdon breached licence by opening until 10pm[/url]

[b][i]Selsdon councillor Sara Bashford says the licensing breach shows the German chain "doesn't really care about the community".

She told the Advertiser: "When Aldi came to Selsdon in 2006 they held a meeting and told us they would be a part of the community; they acted like they were going to be our best friends.

"I still don't have any objections to having an Aldi here but they have done a lot of little things like this that show they don't really care about our community.[/b][/i]

I keep hearing on the radio that the move is towards small convenience stores as that is where the demand is. Is this really true - I can't see me ever choosing to spend the vast majority of our weekly grocery spend in a diddy Tesco express rather than a 'proper' sized super market. I can't be alone in that.

- online shopping for big shops?
- big stores market is saturated and very competitive?
- small stores are convenient, convenient = valued, valued=higher margin?
- if consumers become "eco" (or economics make them eco) then driving 5 miles to do your shopping will be unpopular?
- non-food departments competing with Amazon etc?

Personally I can't imagine ever wanting to spend an hour and a half+ of my valuable leisure time travelling to and wandering round a big super market every week. I can't be alone in that.

and its good to see they can taste their own medicine.....

Rudebwoy schadenfreude is a wonderful thing until you realise that you yourself are almost certainly a shareholder in Tesco by virtue of having a pension.

You can be anti big business all you like, doesn't change the fact that big companies are almost universally owned by ordinary people like you and me.

Edit- pointless. We all know about Tesco's.

Forget the headline. As has already been said above, that's mostly to do with land values etc. FWIW, they reported a profit on "through the till" takings.

Oh yes- they are sat on quite abit of land aren't they? Including the local park that the council 'sold' to Tesco's as part of a deal that gave (a private company) funds etc to develop their land/site further.

I have a big 24 hour Tesco 10 mins walk from home and an Aldi & Lidl 20 mins walk.

I actively avoid Tesco every time. I'm not a Tesco hater and I don't know much about their behind the scenes practices. In no particular order Aldi / Lidl have won me over because of:

- Efficient store layout. Quick to go round and no 1/2km walk when you realise you forgot lemons when you've got to the bread section.
- No confusing offers and junk multi buy deals.
- Efficient till system and reasonable dynamic staff who can make decisions and not buzz for a supervisor every minute
- Products generally of good quality for less money, some stuff is the same as Tesco and some is better. I've found very few items to be worse.
- Occasional interesting special buys. Go in for some milk and come out with a chainsaw.

I hope Tesco turn it around, as above most folk own a slice through their pension and competition is generally good for consumers.

As above, it's just an accounting scam - make a loss? Pay less tax...

Maybe the consumer is waking up- realising that Tesco's is overpriced

You want Tesco to slash their prices? I wonder how they could do that?

Maybe look for cheaper suppliers? Or maybe reduce their wage bill?

[i]Tesco. Classic behaviour from a new CEO, report a massive loss writing your asset values down so you can be shown to fix it all later when you write them back up again.[/i]

This.

Seen it loads of time, even if the company doesn't succeed the CEO is set for life 🙂

I was at ASDA when this guy turned up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Norman

Maybe look for cheaper suppliers?

Have you ever worked for a Tesco supplier?

schadenfreude is a wonderful thing until you realise that you yourself are almost certainly a shareholder in Tesco by virtue of having a pension.

Pension funds held an estimated 4.7% by value at the end of 2012, down from 5.6% in 2010, and significantly lower than the levels seen in recent years.

You can be anti big business all you like, doesn't change the fact that big companies are almost universally owned by ordinary people like you and me.

Shares are increasingly held in multiple-ownership pooled accounts, where the beneficial owner is unknown. These accounted for an estimated 59.4% of the total holdings by value at the end of 2012, up from 44.9% at the end of 2010. Multiple ownership pooled accounts have been allocated to sectors using further analysis of share registers, updating the analysis conducted for the 2010 results.

Not true.

It also assumes he has a pension and this pension invests in tesco .

Share ownership is essentially not pensions nor "ordinary" people.

Bit if a a tangent to go off on not least when the share price went up which says a lot about the infallable and rational market.

As above, it's just an accounting scam - make a loss? Pay less tax...

Yes because of course we don't have strict accounting regulations and rules in this country. I'm surprised they don't pull the old LIFO/FIFO trick every other year, or why not just do what Enron did and make it up from start to finish.

Efficient till system and reasonable dynamic staff who can make decisions and not buzz for a supervisor every minute

You must have a very unique Aldi.

My experience, Tesco checkout - no queues, staff waits patiently while you pack and sort yourself out. Aldi checkout - remarkably long queues, constant need for supervisors to sort out problems, impatient till operator who wants you to **** off quickly so that they serve the next customer.

Shame Terry Leahy left, he was the brains behind growing it then left before it all went wrong.

Have you ever worked for a Tesco supplier?

No. So tell me how you expect Tesco to reduce their prices which you claim are excessive?

My experience, Tesco checkout - no queues, staff waits patiently while you pack and sort yourself out. Aldi checkout - remarkably long queues, constant need for supervisors to sort out problems, impatient till operator who wants you to **** off quickly so that they serve the next customer.

[s]That might be a london thing?[/s] given scotroutes agrees
My tesco experience no staff anywhere on the shop floor when you find them they are chatting at the customer service desk - I only go in for one thing and they had moved it. They still did not knwo where it was and advised " i went and looked". This was indeed most helpful in a two storey shop.*

Aldi - always queues always staffed and progressing smoothly.

It has got so much busier in the last few years though and the car park has much nicer cars than 15 years ago

* its sample of one visit every 6 months v monthly visits to Aldi for decades

My 'local' Tesco is enormous, you can run round the mostly empty carpark and its never busy (except for lunchtime during the week).

Aldi is round the corner, another one is opening 1miles up the road, then theres another 2miles further up.

Maybe the council(s) fell out with Tesco over the deal that they cut together a couple of years ago?

My experience, Tesco checkout - no queues, staff waits patiently while you pack and sort yourself out. Aldi checkout - remarkably long queues, constant need for supervisors to sort out problems, impatient till operator who wants you to **** off quickly so that they serve the next customer.

I like their "no messing about" attitude to till queue management. The queues can be long but seem to move quickly as no doddering is tolerated. It helps keep costs down too.

I just wish they'd let Aldi run airport security and passport control.

"Next"
"Wait, I need to get my passport"
"Back of queue son"
"Next"

My Tesco experience, larger stores especially, frequented and staffed by socially inept rude people. Customers especially like to block isles with their trolleys whilst they chat.

I avoid Tesco if possible.

If only buying a few items at Lidl I ask to jump in front of those doing a big shop. Mostly works.

I can't see me ever choosing to spend the vast majority of our weekly grocery spend in a diddy Tesco express rather than a 'proper' sized super market.

I mainly use Aldi, cheaper, more compact stores so quicker to get around, tills seem to shift customers faster than other supermarkets (a good thing IMO) pretty good range just a few things/brands that I occasionally have to buy from elsewhere.

*I thought big chain "mini stores" normally jacked up the prices
**I'm guessing, compared to other chains, I v.v.rarely go to a big tescos.

- Efficient store layout. Quick to go round and no 1/2km walk when you realise you forgot lemons when you've got to the bread section.
- No confusing offers and junk multi buy deals.
- Efficient till system and reasonable dynamic staff who can make decisions and not buzz for a supervisor every minute
- Products generally of good quality for less money, some stuff is the same as Tesco and some is better. I've found very few items to be worse.
- Occasional interesting special buys. Go in for some milk and come out with a chainsaw

[i]My experience, Tesco checkout - no queues, staff waits patiently while you pack and sort yourself out. Aldi checkout - remarkably long queues, constant need for supervisors to sort out problems, impatient till operator who wants you to **** off quickly so that they serve the next customer. [/i]

No idea about Tesco's, as we use either Asda or Aldi.

Our local Aldi is very good at keeping the queue's down and quickly will put someone else on if it's busy.

no doddering is tolerated

Ah yes, Prussian efficiency. Words like verboten, schnell, and raus, come to mind. Shopping should never be a leisurely and relaxed experience.

Indeed it would appear that it is the discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl and probably Costco who have eaten into Tesco's share of the market by offering even cheaper prices than Tesco.

That might be true, but I note Aldi seem to pay their staff reasonably well, more than Tesco at any rate.

I also like the fact, as i travel for work, that every Aldi layout is the same so you can go in anyone and still find everything

Went in to Tesco on Sunday [ for my Scottish loaf] and bread was in the furthest away corner to make me "buy" other stuff

Just made me think they were ****s tbh

Went in to Tesco on Sunday [ for my Scottish loaf] and bread was in the furthest away corner to make me "buy" other stuff

Bastards. Have you thought of going to your local bakery?

as i travel for work

you work?

Tesco (and I suspect most other supermarkets, though not seen it in Aldi or Lidl) are also fans of what I call "phantom offers" where they continuously manipulate prices on a product so it seems to be on offer.

An example, share bags of Cadbury giant buttons, in the last 6 months they have been £1 for a 165g bag, £1.50 for a 165g bag, £2 for a 165g bag but buy 2 for £3, £2 for a 109g bag, £1.50 for a 109g bag and £1 for a 109g bag, all with various yellow offer signs at random points. Frankly, it's dirty and misleading.

Went in to Tesco on Sunday [ for my Scottish loaf] and bread was in the furthest away corner to make me "buy" other stuff

Amazing. How did they know you were coming in for your Scottish loaf that the had the foresight to put it somewhere that was so far away from the door.

I went in the other day a bought some grapes, which were quite near the door. They obviously don't want my business.

Lidl and Aldi pay grads very well:

https://targetjobs.co.uk/career-sectors/retail-buying-and-merchandising/324077-which-graduate-retail-employer-pays-the-most

Amazing. How did they know you were coming in for your Scottish loaf that the had the foresight to put it somewhere that was so far away from the door.

Because most people need to buy bread, so they make you walk past all the other stuff first. And pipe the smell of the bakery throughout the store.

impatient till operator who wants you to **** off quickly so that they serve the next customer

The tills record how long each transaction takes anmd staf are quizzed retrained if they take to long, thats why they they hand tyou a pile of change as oposed to counting it out.

Thats a point- the milk and bread in my 'local' Tesco's is circa 1/2mile from the initial entrance in the far corner. Up front is two isles full of chocolate and sweet deals, special offers on Whiskey etc.

Because Tesco cares about the nations health. 😆

Bastards. Have you thought of going to your local bakery?

TBH I make my own bread as I am an artisan but I was in Scotland. Under these circumstances its mandatory I return with my own bodyweight in plain loaves.

you work?

As hard as everyone else on STW

I went in the other day a bought some grapes, which were quite near the door.

Because most people need to buy bread, so they make you walk past all the other stuff first. And pipe the smell of the bakery throughout the store.