For the best part of a decade good news from Tesco (once a firm favourite of many SA fund managers) has been in short supply. Now things could be changing for the better for the £54bn annual sales UK food retail giant. Tesco has been battered by falling market share, plunging margins and an accounting scandal. But it is again attracting the attention of some astute SA fund managers and analysts in their personal capacities. Among them is Neville Chester of Coronation. “Tesco is way too cheap. It is a classic turnaround situation,” says Chester. Says independent retail analyst Syd Vianello: “It is the reason I bought a few Tescos.” Tesco is starting to live up to their expectations. It dropped a good-news bombshell on an unsuspecting market in late January, when it announced it had made a £3.9bn bid for Booker Group, the UK’s largest food wholesaler.

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