Supermarket giant Tesco has admitted it overstated its half-year profit figures by a whopping £250 million.
At the end of August it told investors that its profits for the first half of the year would be around £1.1 billion. However Tesco has now uncovered a “serious issue” in the reporting of its UK food business, meaning that this figure was significantly exaggerated.
Four executives, including its UK managing director, have now been suspended, while Deloitte has been tasked with leading an inquiry into the reporting error.
Unsurprisingly, the news has been bad news for Tesco’s share price, which has fallen more than 10% over the course of Monday. In the past year it has fallen from 374p down to 202p today.
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