The Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Plc, Dave Lewis, is to take control of the domestic business of the company. The U.K.-based retailer has been faced with difficulties, including overstated earnings forecasts. The change in Mr. Lewis responsibilities is scheduled to take effect in January 2015.
The company said in a post on its website that Dave Lewis is to head the U.K. division of Tesco on an interim basis. He is to succeed Robin Terrell, who has been on top of the business since September, when the supermarket chain announced accounting irregularities.
Benny Higgins has been appointed in charge of groups strategy in an attempt to make the companys business more stable amid collapsing sales and falling market share.
The reshuffle in the management structure of the grocery chain comes at a moment when Tesco has been put under a lot of pressure, due to the overstated expectations for its profit during the first half of the fiscal year. The overstatements put eight senior executives, including the Managing Director of the companys operations in the U.K., Chris Bush, under suspicion, which was why they were suspended from their responsibilities in the company.
Only one of the eight suspended senior members of Tesco, Matt Simister, was asked to return to his responsibilities as group food sourcing director.
The newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer of Tescos U.K.-based operations, Mr. Lewis, commented on the situation in an interview, cited by Reuters: “We asked Matt to step aside to facilitate our recent investigation into commercial income recognition. During our work it became clear that Matt, in fact, worked tirelessly to resolve the issues we faced.”
Tesco Plc added 0.11% to trade at GBX 184.00 per share as of 8:14 GMT, marking a one-year decrease of 46.02%. The company is valued at GBP 15.15 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 17 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Tesco Plc have a median target of GBX 185.00, with a high estimate of GBX 325.00 and a low estimate of GBX 145.00. The median estimate represents a 0.65% increase from the last price of GBX 183.80.
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