Tesco (TSCO) boss Dave Lewis is on a mission to shore up confidence in the supermarket's long-term recovery plan. The strategy to rebuild the grocer's margins inspired a significant re-rating in the company's share price last year, but the stock has slipped back since the start of 2017.
Tesco's proposed takeover of wholesaler Booker (BOK) has been seen by some analysts and shareholders as a distraction from the task at hand, while the 2014 accounting scandal continues to haunt. Case in point: pre-tax profits of £145m for the 2017 financial year were down more than a quarter (see table), largely thanks to a £235m charge in relation to the regulatory settlement and the related compensation scheme. Restructuring and redundancy costs added another £199m to the bill, although £165m earned from various property disposals helped offset this.