ANNUAL RESULTS
Scandal puts British retailer Tesco in the red again
London — Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, revealed on Wednesday that it fell into an annual net loss of £40m because of a costly accounting scandal. The after-tax loss was skewed by a £235m hit in costs arising from the three-year-old scandal. The company’s performance contrasted with a net profit of £138m in the previous financial year, Tesco said. However, operating profit before one-off items rallied almost a third to £1.28bn in the year to end-February, beating market expectations. Annual sales grew for the first time in seven years — 3.7% to £55.9bn — despite fierce domestic competition. The news comes two weeks after Tesco agreed to a fine and compensation costs in a Serious Fraud Office deal, under which the firm will not face prosecution. Charges have already been brought against three former Tesco executives, who will face trial over alleged fraud and false accounting. Tesco has been accused of overstating profits by £326m between February and September 2014 in an account...
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