Tesco has reported a fourth consecutive quarter of falling sales, raising questions over the leadership of the supermarket chain's chief executive.
For the first three months of the year, the supermarket announced that sales had dropped 3.8 per cent year on year, excluding fuel and value-added tax.
Embattled chief executive Philip Clarke said he anticipated that trading would remain difficult "throughout the coming quarters", but added that his multi-billion pound program of store revamps would serve to reverse the ailing fortunes of the company.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Our accelerated plans are making a real difference for customers and we are more competitive than we have been for many years," Clarke said.
But industry figures show that the supermarket is suffering a sharp decline in its share of the grocery market.
Figures released yesterday by Kantar Worldpanel, the grocery market analysts, showed Tesco's market share had declined to 29 per cent in the quarter to 25 May from 30.5 per cent a year earlier, while sales fell by 3.1 per cent in the same period.
Tesco has faced increasing competition from discount rivals such as Aldi and Lidl and from the higher-end retailers including Waitrose, the BBC said.
David McCarthy, a retail analyst at HSBC, said: "These figures from Kantar are shocking and show that Tesco's … total sales are going backwards despite huge capital and profit and loss investment."
The falling figures will increase pressure on Clarke, "who has struggled to continue a record of growth" achieved by his predecessor Sir Terry Leahy, The Times says.
The results come as Mike Iddon, Tesco's UK finance director, prepares to leave Tesco to join retail company New Look. The departure will generate fears of a "brain drain" that has seen a succession of senior and middle-ranking executives leave the company, the Times says.
Tesco shares, which have fallen by 19 per cent over the course of the last year, slipped by a further 1 per cent to 297.5p this morning.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
Labour shortages: the ‘most urgent problem’ facing the UK economy right nowSpeed Read Britain is currently in the grip of an ‘employment crisis’
-
Will the energy war hurt Europe more than Russia?
Speed Read European Commission proposes a total ban on Russian oil
-
Will Elon Musk manage to take over Twitter?
Speed Read The world’s richest man has launched a hostile takeover bid worth $43bn
-
Shoppers urged not to buy into dodgy Black Friday deals
Speed Read Consumer watchdog says better prices can be had on most of the so-called bargain offers
-
Ryanair: readying for departure from London
Speed Read Plans to delist Ryanair from the London Stock Exchange could spell ‘another blow’ to the ‘dwindling’ London market
-
Out of fashion: Asos ‘curse’ has struck again
Speed Read Share price tumbles following the departure of CEO Nick Beighton
-
Universal Music’s blockbuster listing: don’t stop me now…
Speed Read Investors are betting heavily that the ‘boom in music streaming’, which has transformed Universal’s fortunes, ‘still has a long way to go’
-
EasyJet/Wizz: battle for air supremacy
Speed Read ‘Wizz’s cheeky takeover bid will have come as a blow to the corporate ego’
