Troubled
supermarket giant Tesco has said that its new chief financial officer, Alan
Stewart, is joining the company immediately, more than two months earlier than
originally planned.
Mr Stewart
was previously in the same post at Marks and Spencer.
His
arrival fills a gap left by Laurie McIlwee, who left just over a week ago,
following his resignation in April.
On Monday,
Tesco stunned the markets by saying it had overstated its half-year profit
guidance by £250m.
It has
launched an investigation headed by Deloitte, and says it is now working to
establish the impact of the issue on its full-year results.
It has
also suspended four executives, including its UK managing director, Chris Bush.
Tesco is
also believed to have suspended its UK finance director Carl Rogberg, its food
commercial director John Scouler and the head of food sourcing, Matt Simister.
Tesco
shopping Tesco has been battling falling sales and
a decline in its market
share
The news
prompted a plunge in Tesco's share price, which closed 11.6% lower on Monday at
203p. The shares fell a further 3.7% on Tuesday morning to 195.55p.
Mr Stewart
was originally due to join Tesco on 1 December, but his start date was brought
forward after negotiations with Marks and Spencer.
BBC
business editor Kamal Ahmed says he has been told that the move came after a
direct appeal from Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis to his counterpart at Marks
and Spencer, Marc Bolland, who "graciously" allowed Mr Stewart to
leave early.
Mr Lewis's
predecessor, Philip Clarke, stood down in July after his attempts to revive
Tesco's fortunes through a £1bn turnaround plan failed.
The
announcement that Alan Stewart, the former finance director of Marks and
Spencer, will start work today at Tesco - rather than the somewhat more
leisurely 1 December - will bring some relief to investors, who have faced a
battering over the last year.
A business
facing an accounting crisis with no chief financial officer was not exactly
comfortable.
Sir
Richard Broadbent, the chairman, will hope that the move will quieten those who
believe that he should consider his position.
He
certainly spent yesterday, when the accounting crisis broke, desperately trying
to move Mr Stewart's start date forward. In that, at least, he has been
successful.
Last
month, Tesco cut its full-year profit forecast from £2.8bn to £2.4bn, and said
trading profit for the six months to 23 August was expected to be about £1.1bn.
As a
result of the change to its profit guidance, Tesco has pushed back the release
of its interim results to 23 October, from 1 October.
The
investigation into the overstatement will be carried out by Deloitte together
with Freshfields, the group's external legal advisers.
Discounters still winning
Tesco has
been battling falling sales and a decline in its market share as discount
chains such as Aldi and Lidl have gained in popularity.
And there
is "no sign yet of recovery" in sales or market share for Tesco,
according to latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel.
In the 12
weeks to 14 September, Tesco sales fell 4.5% from a year earlier and its market
share remained at 28.8%, the Kantar report said.
The Kantar
report also said annual growth in the UK grocery market over the 12 weeks was
at a record low of 0.3%.
Asda was
the only one of the "big four" - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and
Morrisons - to increase its market share, now at 17.4% and sales were up 0.8%
on the same period last year.
The report
confirmed that discount and premium supermarkets were still winning market
share from bigger rivals.
"Aldi
has continued its run of double-digit growth, which now stretches back to
February 2011, by recording a sales increase of 29.1% compared with last
year," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar
Worldpanel.
"Similarly,
Lidl has increased sales by 17.7%, showing that shoppers still have a strong
appetite for the discount stores," he said.
Waitrose
recorded a 4.5% rise in sales, which boosted its market share to 5.1%.
BBC
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