Tesco Super Market Giant Fast Disappearing Down a Financial Black Hole
Companies / Corporate News Sep 22, 2014 - 04:51 PM GMTBy: Nadeem_Walayat
Tesco, Britain's giant supermarket chain continues in its death spiral trend towards eventually becoming a mere fraction of its former size as barely a few weeks after its latest profit warning of a 25% collapse, today we find out that its financial controllers (bankers) and accountants can't control or count anything as the management wakes up to find that £250 million of expected profits no longer exists the news of which wiped out £2 billion in market capitalisation as panicked stock holders belatedly start to jump ship as the mega-corp is literally disappearing down a financial black hole.
The Tesco board reacted to the vanishing £250million by suspending Tesco's top management, so now one of Britain's biggest companies does not have any one running it at the top, primed to collapse further into a black hole as we wait to see what next big financial accounting scam is taking place at Tesco.
I'll tell you what I think really happened, the same thing that happened with the banks, top management in a state of denial that their company is in free fall to the extent that they would make up profits gambling that the company can be turned around before the SHTF.
Tesco stock Investors in a state of denial if not shock who have clung on in hopes for a recovery have now been dealt a further cold hard dose of reality as what was revealed today is a company that is managed by so called finance experts that can't even count!
The Tesco stock price continues its death spiral towards becoming a penny stock that currently stands at £2.03, down near 50% from when I first warned of the dangers of holding Tesco stock in October last year when the Tesco stock price was just 3% shy of its 2013 peak of £3.86, warning that the Tesco management had become focused on club card gimmicks whilst ignoring what customers really wanted which was GOOD customer service and VALUE FOR MONEY, and similarly have warned several times since that the Stock was literally in a death spiral. Those who have not heeded my calls to date to exit this doomed suicidal stock need to realise that it is still a long way down to ZERO! Or more probably to a level with sparks a hostile takeover.
31 Aug 2014 - Tesco Supermarket Death Spiral Latest Profits Warning and Dividend Slashed
Tesco stock Investors in a state of denial if not shock who clung on in hopes for a recovery have now been dealt a cold hard reality as they see their dividend slashed by 75% to just 1.1p a share, so that Tesco can bolster its balance sheet by an extra £1 billion per annum that too ultimately will vanish down the expanding black hole that seeks to consume the super market giant.
24 Jul 2014 - Tesco Supermarket Death Spiral Accelerates as Customers HATE the Mega Brand
The problem at the heart of Tesco is that shopping at Tesco does NOT represent good value for money! Tesco thinks it can charge the same prices as Asda and Waitrose whilst delivering Aldi and Lidl level of customer service. The bottom line is customers DO NOT LOVE shopping at Tesco's so are NOT going to PAY Waitrose prices! Which apparently has succeeded in seducing customers into LOVING shopping at their stores due to misguided impression of superiority over shopping at other super markets (toff's).
Clarke instead of encouraging LOVE has instead been fostering customer HATE!, That is the truth Tesco customers have increasingly come to despise the brand as a consequence of BAD customer service that they personally experience and numerous stories in the media of how mega-stores have sprung up all over the place despite resident resistance to create a monotonous shopping experience nationwide.
The best thing TESCO could do would be to DITCH the Tesco brand and CREATE a series of SEPERATE brands and pricing models based on locality. Go up market in wealthy areas and down market in poor areas because middle of the road DOES NOT WORK!
Therefore Tesco remains on the same trend trajectory as Morrisons that has remained lost in the super market wilderness for over a decade now, having lost most of its market share and fighting to survive. Tesco is not there yet but looks set to follow Morrisons example, which is a warning to those stock market investors anticipating a rebound. Those that read my article last October should have taken my warning more seriously as you would now be 25% better off. Ignore my warnings again and you will lose at least another quarter of your wealth by this time next year!
18 Apr 2014 - Tesco Profits Panic! Back to Back £5 Off £40 Shop Voucher Promotions
Tesco, Britain's giant supermarket chain is once more reeling following its latest trading results that reveal another bad year with profits slumping by 7% as the discount chains such as Aldi and Lidl continue to consume King Tesco's market share that fell to a 10 year low of 28.6% that sows the seeds for the market leader ultimately to join the ranks of has been's such as Morrisons that has been floundering in the supermarket wilderness for over a decade now.
Tesco's reaction to another set of bad results can best be described as panic! As firstly Tesco management ahead of the expected bad results revised the usual periodic promotion of spend £40 for a £5 off voucher on your next weeks £40 shop to spend £20 for a £5 voucher off next weeks £40 shop. However following the results this was followed by ANOTHER back to back £5 voucher for each £20 spend of your next £40 shop promotion, so shoppers get to TWO consecutive weeks of discount shopping.
For example this would translate into a £200 weekly shop generating £50 off next weeks £400 shop, which would again result in another £50 off the following weeks shop.
24 Oct 2013 - Tesco Bubble Bursts - Profits Crash As Big Spending Customers Quit Shopping on Poor Service
The bottom line is that whilst Tesco management are busy conjuring up club card vouchers, tokens and sticker promotions to entice customers with, however these schemes are being actively undermined at store checkouts by badly motivated powerless staff who could not care less about Tesco's big picture and this is why Tesco's profits have collapsed and will likely continue their downwards spiral as Tesco stores are increasingly perceived as being places only good for a quick convenience shop rather than a place for the big weekly shops.
Tesco management need to go back to square one and realise that what customers want is value for money, not frustrating gimmicks that result in the waving of promotions in the faces of customers that they are frustrated out of capitalising upon. Tesco's demise seems certain as increasingly Tesco's wealthy customers will be found shopping at Waitrose whilst their poorer customers will be found at Lidl and Aldi (UK profits up 124%).
Source and comments: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article47444.html
By Nadeem Walayat
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Nadeem Walayat has over 25 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of five ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series that can be downloaded for Free.
Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication that presents in-depth analysis from over 1000 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets, thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk
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