TSCO.L - Tesco PLC
| Previous close | 243.00 |
| Open | 244.50 |
| Bid | 248.70 x 0 |
| Ask | 248.80 x 0 |
| Day's range | 244.25 - 250.33 |
| 52-week range | 210.70 - 293.40 |
| Volume | 14,430,000 |
| Avg. volume | 20,435,268 |
| Market cap | 24.376B |
| Beta (5Y monthly) | 0.46 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 18.57 |
| EPS (TTM) | 13.40 |
| Earnings date | 08 Apr 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 0.07 (2.72%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 10 Oct 2019 |
| 1y target est | 269.93 |
- Yahoo Finance UK
Tesco to stop using plastic-wrap for multipack tins in stores
Plastic wrapping will be scrapped from all all tinned food in a move the supermarket says will save 350 million tonnes of plastic a year.
- Stockopedia
Should we be worried about Tesco's Quality Rank (LON:TSCO)?
Good quality companies can offer a lot of comfort to investors. They tend to be strong, stable, profitable firms that deliver predictable returns, have pricing8230;
- Fool.co.uk
Forget the Tesco share price. I’d buy this FTSE 100 champion instead
The Tesco (LON: TSCO) share price remains a long way below its 2007 highs. But that doesn't mean it's a bargain, says Edward Sheldon. The post Forget the Tesco share price. I’d buy this FTSE 100 champion instead appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
- Bloomberg
Sainsbury Badly Needs Vision to Combat Amazon and Aldi
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Almost a year since competition authorities dealt a mortal blow to J Sainsbury Plc’s $9.1 billion plan to buy Walmart Inc.’s Asda, Mike Coupe is stepping down as chief executive officer of Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain. He’s been at the helm for almost six years and will be 60 in September, so it’s a natural time to hang up his grocer’s apron.But Coupe’s departure looked inevitable once the Asda combination collapsed. Whether or not Sainsbury mishandled the competition risks, for any CEO, grinding out growth in a sluggish market is far less exciting than pulling off an audacious deal.The choice of Simon Roberts, currently retail and operations director, to succeed him is a surprising one given that his most recent experience before Sainsbury wasn’t in food retail, and he’s a relatively new arrival at the group. Sainsbury’s former finance director, John Rogers, was widely seen as Coupe’s heir apparent, until he left for advertising company WPP Plc in October. This may explain his departure. Roberts, 48, is a hands-on shopkeeper. He spent 15 years at Marks & Spencer Group Plc and 13 years at Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. before joining Sainsbury two and half years ago. But the changes that Sainsbury has made to its stores since then haven’t always gone smoothly. A management overhaul in 2018 led to empty shelves and unkempt shops. In a fast-changing retail market, executives need to augment operational expertise with strategic vision. It’s not yet clear that Roberts has that.It’s interesting that Britain’s two biggest supermarkets, Tesco Plc and Sainsbury, will be led by executives who spent many years at pharmacy retailer Boots. Perhaps it’s replacing Asda as the training ground for top executives. It may be that working for Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina, who’s known for not suffering fools gladly, is the perfect preparation for taking on difficult challenges — even the brutal U.K. supermarket business.Roberts will need all of the skills he honed under the Italian dealmaker to keep Sainsbury on track. First of all, he must continue to battle the company’s other major rivals which make up the U.K.’s Big Four grocers — Tesco, Asda and Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc. And he must defend Sainsbury from the U.K. arms of the German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, which are increasingly forging into Sainsbury’s heartland in the south eastern U.K. Coupe did a good job cutting Sainsbury’s prices on everyday items. Roberts must continue this. For a while in 2018 and early 2019, after the damaging store-management overhaul, sales growth slipped behind that of rivals. Sainsbury was beginning to look like the sick grocer from which everyone else was seeking to steal market share. Its sales have recovered since, but Roberts must maintain that momentum.Secondly, Sainsbury must get Argos, the catalog retailer that Coupe acquired four years ago, back on track. The business, which sells everything from toys to tents, had a poor Christmas. In order to defend itself from the mighty Amazon.com Inc., it must better exploit its combination of online presence and bricks-and-mortar stores, as well as ensure its prices are right. On Tuesday, Sainsbury announced it would further integrate Argos into Sainsbury, axing hundreds of management jobs and cutting costs as it merges divisions including commercial retail and finance. This program must be managed without disruption.If all of this doesn’t go to plan, there is always the risk that Sainsbury, perennially tipped as a takeover target, could finally attract the attentions of a bidder. No one can fault Coupe for his bold decisions. In an environment where just keeping your head above water is hard enough, he was prepared to make daring moves. Unfortunately, they didn’t always pay off.To contact the author of this story: Andrea Felsted at afelsted@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Fool.co.uk
Get ready for Brexit! One growth stock I’d buy for my ISA and one I’d sell before 31 January
Get prepared for Brexit with these investment plays, says Royston Wild.The post Get ready for Brexit! One growth stock I’d buy for my ISA and one I’d sell before 31 January appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Cheapest supermarkets to shop as a vegan
Supermarkets are cashing in by offering more products to suit a plant based diet.
- Fool.co.uk
£5k to invest? I’d buy these FTSE 100 dividend stocks right now
Rupert Hargreaves believes these FTSE 100 income investments could pay you for life. The post £5k to invest? I'd buy these FTSE 100 dividend stocks right now appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
- Fool.co.uk
Why I’d prefer the Tesco share price over Marks & Spencer in 2020
It’s cheaper, but I think there’s more to consider here The post Why I’d prefer the Tesco share price over Marks & Spencer in 2020 appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
- Reuters - UK Focus
MEDIA-Big C confirms Tesco interest - Bangkok Post
- Bloomberg
Thai Tycoons May Find Tesco Is Closed
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Bangkok’s billionaires don’t usually have to contend with much resistance as they expand. Tesco Plc’s sale of its Southeast Asian supermarkets may be about to change that.The $32 billion British retailer said in December it was considering selling the group’s stores in Thailand and Malaysia, becoming the latest international grocery giant to bow out of Asia. First-round bids for the asset, estimated to be worth between $7 billion and $9 billion, are due this week. Suitors are likely to be drawn from local conglomerates, among them: Dhanin Chearavanont’s CP Group; Central Group, controlled by the Chirathivat family; and beer-and-spirits magnate Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's TCC Group.So far, so normal for tycoon-heavy Thailand. Perhaps not. Last month, the Office of Trade Competition Commission, or OTCC, threw a wrench in the gears, signaling before offers even materialized that it would review the deal and could rule against any combination that grabbed too much of the market.Thailand’s government has revamped the antitrust authority since 2017, turning it from a dormant and toothless appendage of the Ministry of Commerce into an impartial agency with an independent workforce. Taking a tough stance could burnish the pro-military administration’s consumer-protection credentials, as it battles a slowing economy and the country’s worst drought in decades.Added to that, this is the the first high-profile, consumer-facing case that the new-look OTCC has handled. It’s also, potentially, one of the largest-ever acquisitions by a Thai group, and among the largest deals in Asia this year. That all but sets up a tussle with some of the most powerful patriarchs in Thai business.In theory, problems arise when a company has a market share of 50% or more. The trouble here, as in every antitrust debate, is deciding what counts as a market.Tesco, under the Tesco Lotus brand, is already Thailand’s biggest supermarket chain with almost 2,000 stores, plus 74 in Malaysia. So, do convenience stores, like CP’s 7-Eleven outlets, count as part of the same market? By the broadest definition, CP touches the vast majority of Thailand’s food chain. What about duty-free, should a last-minute bid come from King Power Group, run by the billionaire Srivaddhanaprabha family that owns Leicester City Football Club? Central Group, meanwhile, has 200 supermarkets, and TCC owns Big C hypermarkets.All of that suggests plenty of wrangling ahead. Worse, Thailand now has a two-stage reporting structure: Unusually by global standards, would-be merger partners may have to report both ahead of and on completion of any deal that creates a dominant player. That means passing the first hurdle doesn’t guarantee a bidder will clear the second.In the end, asset sales may be the most palatable solution, should a big retailer win the contest. Antitrust bosses, still early in their tenure, may be reluctant to irk too many big names. Chinese regulators ruffled plenty of feathers when the Beijing-based Ministry of Commerce vetoed Coca-Cola Co.’s acquisition of a Chinese juice maker in 2009. And Thailand, with its unimpressive economy, badly needs investment.Still, supermarkets are a sensitive and unpredictable area for antitrust authorities, with their focus on safeguarding consumers. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority, after all, last year stopped J Sainsbury Plc from buying Walmart Inc.’s Asda to create the country’s largest supermarket chain. This could turn into quite a food fight. To contact the author of this story: Clara Ferreira Marques at cferreirama@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew Brooker at mbrooker1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Clara Ferreira Marques is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities and environmental, social and governance issues. Previously, she was an associate editor for Reuters Breakingviews, and editor and correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, India, the U.K., Italy and Russia.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Simply Wall St.
Can Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) Maintain Its Strong Returns?
One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will...
- Fool.co.uk
This is what I’d do about the Tesco share price right now
Tesco (LON: TSCO) reports a "Christmas of growth", but does that mean it's time to buy the shares?
- Fool.co.uk
3 reasons why I’d buy Tesco shares and sell Sainsbury’s
The Tesco share price has outperformed Sainsbury's by more than 30% over the last year. Our writer explains why he'd stay with the market leader.
- Bloomberg
Horrid Holidays Can't All Be Blamed on Brexit
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Christmas 2019 should be consigned to the dustbin along with the crumpled wrapping paper and the wilted tree. That’s the message that has come in loud and clear from British retailers. And it caps off a miserable year. Total sales for 2019 fell by 0.1%, the worst year on record, according to the British Retail Consortium and KPMG.There’s no doubt consumers were cautious in the run-up to the holidays. But store groups can’t blame it all on Brexit. There were some own goals, too.Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc missed the halo effect from Black Friday by reining in promotions right as shoppers sought deals during the U.S-imported retail frenzy. Marks & Spencer Group Plc also hasn’t participated for the past few years. While it’s the right instinct to protect against diluting margins ahead of the holiday season, going too far to do so is painful too.John Lewis Partnership Plc warned that its profit would be “significantly lower” than a year ago, and parted company with the head of its department-store arm, Paula Nickolds. It’s hard not to think the privately held company’s challenges have been made worse by some of its own decisions, such as blindly sticking to its pledge to always be cheaper than rivals. Times have changed since the promise was made many years ago, and it’s become untenable in a market characterized by intense and constant discounting.But perhaps the performance by M&S is the most disappointing. After seeing some positive signs in women’s wear, it made a fashion faux pas in men’s clothing by getting too trendy for many of its customers. Its range of more contemporary, slim fitting shirts and suits weren’t on trend with its predominantly older shopper base, and it simply stocked too many small sizes than was reasonable.The high street stalwart also didn’t have the right Christmas gifts, having gone down market just as consumers were seeking more expensive items, such as cashmere sweaters, and more experiential gifts such as spa days. Consequently, M&S’s like-for-like sales in clothing and home furnishings fell 1.7% in the third quarter, worse than the consensus of analysts’ expectations for a 0.8% decline.The performance is particularly disappointing given that many of M&S’s key competitors, including Debenhams Plc, John Lewis department stores, Mike Ashley’s House of Fraser and Philip Green’s Arcadia, are not firing on all cylinders. And the self-inflicted damage wasn’t confined to clothing. Although demand for M&S’s Christmas food was strong, it wasn’t as pronounced as it had hoped. It misread the market, buying too much festive fare to make sure it had enough available and wound up with far too many leftovers once the holidays came to an end. Consequently, gross margins are expected to be at the lower end of expectations.The shares fell as much as 11.6%. It isn’t the first time M&S has messed up at Christmas. In the past, it suffered from problems at a key distribution center at Castle Donington in central England. This year that facility held up, but the new round of blunders is worrying. In contrast, other groups that have been operating quietly without hiccups, such as Tesco Plc, Greggs Plc and discount home-furnishings retailer Dunelm Group Plc, delivered solid performances. It will also be worth watching out for Associated British Foods Plc, which should have benefited from Primark’s strong selection of gifts and party dresses in the run up to the holiday.With any Boris bounce after the U.K. election proving elusive, 2020 is set to remain tough. The lesson from this Christmas trading season is that to prosper, retailers need to stick to their knitting, and ensure that their own actions don’t make an already difficult backdrop even worse.To contact the author of this story: Andrea Felsted at afelsted@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
Christmas brings little respite for struggling UK high street
A Christmas crunch inflicted more pain on British retailers on Thursday, as changing habits and belt-tightening exposed the industry's struggle to eke out growth and its slim margin for error. One of Britain's best known chain stores John Lewis warned it was one of the "most severe" markets in a generation, Marks & Spencer's described conditions in clothing and homeware as "challenging" while Britain's biggest retailer Tesco said the market was subdued. Adding to the downbeat outlook, Tesco said Prime Minister Boris Johnson's resounding election victory in December, which broke the deadlock over Brexit and lifted financial market sentiment, had not unleashed any pent-up demand.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-Europe stocks resume record run as Middle East tensions ease
European stocks picked up their record rally on Thursday as the United States and Iran signalled a desire to avoid further conflict, while rising expectations that a Phase 1 U.S.-China trade deal will be signed next week also provided a lift. A 1.3% gain for Germany's trade-sensitive DAX stood out among regional peers, also benefiting from data showing better-than-expected industrial output in November that dispelled any remaining worries about a recession in Europe's economic powerhouse. "Confidence is recovering at a pace in Europe," said Steven Holden, CEO of Copley Fund Research.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-FTSE cheers easing in U.S.-Iran worries; mid-caps miss out
London's main share index advanced on Thursday as chances of a full-blown crisis in the Middle East waned, but mid-caps lagged as SIG and Marks and Spencer fell after warning of lower annual results. The FTSE 100 rose 0.3% on its best day in a week after U.S. President Donald Trump stepped back from more military action against Iran and Tehran signalled an end to retaliation. "It looks like the shooting war is over for now, but there is always the potential for escalation at any point," Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said.
- Reuters
Tesco outstrips retail rivals with Christmas sales rise
Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket group, rode out a "subdued" Christmas to lift UK sales by 0.1%, enough to beat its main rivals amid the toughest high street conditions in years. Chief Executive Dave Lewis said Tesco's UK stores delivered the best operational performance of his five-year tenure. Tesco sold more food on Dec. 23 than on any other day in its 100-year-old history, Lewis said, with 890,000 customers served in a single peak hour of trading.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Tesco sales inch higher over 'challenging' Christmas
Sales rose 0.4% in the UK and Ireland over the crucial Christmas trading period.
- Reuters
Thailand's PTT says its retail unit not interested in bidding for Tesco's Asian business
Thailand's state-owned energy firm PTT Pcl said on Thursday that neither it, nor its retail unit were interested in bidding for Tesco Plc's assets in Asia. Reuters reported on Wednesday that, according to sources, PTT's retail unit was planning to participate in first-round bids due by Jan. 15 for the assets worth up to $9 billion (£6.9 billion). Thailand's largest retailer, Central Group, and agribusiness conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group are also set to take part, the sources said.
- Reuters
PTT retail unit set to join Thai corporate giants vying for Tesco's Asia business - sources
HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The retail unit of Thailand's biggest energy company PTT plans to bid for Tesco Plc's Asia businesses, competing with other Thai corporate heavyweights for the operations worth up to $9 billion, people familiar with the situation said. PTTOR, the unit which runs PTT's gas stations and related retail business, is set to join domestic retailer Central Group and conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group in first-round bids due by Jan. 15, they said. Tesco last month said it had begun a review of its Asian operations after receiving approaches for the businesses.. It has 1,967 stores in Thailand and 74 in Malaysia.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Sainsbury's sales fall over Christmas after Argos slump
Sales at Sainsbury's fell by 0.7% over the crucial Christmas trading period, dragged down by a slump at Argos.
- Bloomberg
The Boris Bounce Was More of a Christmas Turkey
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Flashback to mid-December. British voters had just delivered a decisive national election victory to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives with two full weekends left before Christmas. Expectations were high that shoppers, giddy at the prospect of an end to political gridlock and repetitive threats of hard Brexit, would rush to the stores to make up for lost time in their holiday preparations and provide a much-needed boost for the country’s big supermarket chains.Anyone in the industry expecting a Boris bounce was sorely disappointed. Numbers out Tuesday show the U.K.’s largest food retailers suffered from subdued trading over the crucial Christmas and New Year’s period.Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc said consumers remained cautious, even if there was a bit of relief following the election result. Still, it wasn’t enough to make up for belt tightening. Although customers put the same amount of Christmas fare in their baskets, the number of times they shopped was marginally down, it said.It didn’t help that a price war broke out in the run up to the holidays, with the U.K. arms of the German discount chains Lidl and Aldi slashing prices. They drew shoppers with offers, such as bags of Christmas vegetables from as little as 15 pence. Morrison was offering three British vegetables for one pound, including a 2.5 kg bag of Maris Piper potatoes, described by Chief Executive Officer David Potts as a knock-out offer. But with intense competition from the discounters, perhaps it just wasn’t knock out enough. Where consumers treated themselves, it seems they opted for Aldi’s Specially Selected mince pies.Moderating food price inflation was also a hindrance. Morrison estimated that over the past couple of months food-price inflation was close to zero. When food prices are rising, the value of supermarkets’ sales is automatically boosted.Morrison may turn out to be one of the weakest performers. But trading across the whole of the U.K. food retail market was lackluster, according to industry research group Kantar. 2019 saw the lowest rate of growth over the Christmas period since 2015, it said.What oxygen there is in the market is feeding the discount supermarkets. Excluding online-only supermarket Ocado Group Plc, Lidl was the strongest performer in the 12 weeks to Dec. 29, with sales up by 10.3%, according to Kantar. Aldi also expanded its sales by 5.9%, a slower rate of growth than in the past, but still way ahead of the so-called big four supermarkets, Tesco, J Sainsbury Plc, Walmart Inc.’s U.K. arm Asda and Morrison.Sainsbury, which reports on Wednesday, may be more upbeat than Morrison, as its stronghold is in the southeast, where there is less competition from the discounters, and it tends to outperform at Christmas. Tesco may also do better, as it has been one of the stronger performers over the past few months, and that may continue.But it provides little comfort that all of the big four saw their sales fall in the 12 weeks to Dec. 29, compared with the year earlier, according to Kantar.With U.K. wage growth still ahead of inflation, and consumer confidence showing some improvement, Johnson’s resounding victory and the certainty it appeared to provide around Britain’s departure from the European Union was supposed to boost holiday shopping. Coming in mid-December, it probably came too late to make a noticeable impact on spending on clothing and gifts, but it should have had a positive impact on supermarket shopping. That clearly didn’t happen, and that is a worrying sign for grocers as they move into what is traditionally a lean time after the holidays. This year it could be even more painful, as many consumers move out of categories such as alcohol and meat, as trends like Dry January and Veganuary gain pace.As for Morrison, the company needs to be on its guard. When food prices are rising, all of the big four supermarkets can prosper at the same time. When there is little growth, grocers need to steal sales from a weaker rival. This time last year, that was looking like Sainsbury. Now Morrison looks vulnerable. It has a strong management team, robust balance sheet, more than 85% freehold property and a developing wholesale business. Even so, it needs to get its sales growth back on track, to make make sure it does not become 2020’s Christmas feast.To contact the author of this story: Andrea Felsted at afelsted@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
