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Tesco faces 'mammoth job' to rebuild trust

Following the grocery code adjudicator's ruling, it seems supermarket chain Tesco still faces an uphill battle to rebuild investors' trust
January 27, 2016

If this week's damning report from groceries code adjudicator (GCA) Christine Tacon is anything to go by, the UK's largest supermarket chain, Tesco (TSCO), has a long way to go to rebuild trust with its investors. Ms Tacon ruled that Tesco had officially breached the legally binding code governing the grocery market by deliberately delaying payments to its suppliers in an attempt to boost profits. However, given that the breach occurred as far back as late 2014, and that the GCA has only had penalty rights since April 2013, Tesco will not be fined.

IC TIP: Hold at 157p

That doesn't mean the company has got off scot-free. Sarah Wilson, the chief executive of proxy voting agency and corporate governance research body Manifest, believes Tesco boss Dave Lewis faces a "mammoth job" to bring the group back into favour. When news of the scandal broke in 2014, "drastic" Dave fired four executives on the spot. But Ms Wilson doesn't believe this is enough, arguing that Mr Lewis will have to introduce "radical transparency initiatives" and "continuous improvement initiatives" to prove he has a zero-tolerance policy.

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