Tesco to close 43 stores despite better Christmas sales

The beleaguered supermarket Tesco has said it will close 43 unprofitable stores across the UK - a "significant proportion" of which will be local convenience shops.

The firm is also shelving plans to open a further 49 new "very large" stores.

Additionally, Tesco is closing its staff pension scheme, will make cuts of £250m, and reduce overheads by 30%.

 

Shares in Tesco rose by more than 9% on Thursday, as investors welcomed the company's announcements.

It comes after two years of troubles at Tesco, which has suffered falling sales and profit warnings.

Last year, the company was embroiled in an accounting scandal, and saw the departure of some senior executives.

However the retail giant, which has more than 3,300 stores in the UK, had a better Christmas than expected.

Sales over the holiday period were down just 0.3% on the year before, and up 0.1% if fuel sales are included.

Overall, comparable sales for the three months to the beginning of January were down by 2.9%.

In the previous three months, sales had dropped by 5.4%.

Tesco's chief executive, Dave Lewis, said the firm was "facing the reality of the situation," and was "seeing the benefits of listening to our customers".

Tesco also confirmed that two of its businesses - Tesco Broadband and online entertainment service Blinkbox, will be sold to TalkTalk.

It also announced that Matt Davies, the boss of Halfords Group, will take charge of Tesco's operations in the UK and Republic of Ireland from June.

'Fightback'

Sales at the retail giant improved in the six week Christmas period, with grocery shopping up almost 13% on last year, and online clothing sales growing by more than 50%.

Shares in Tesco rose by more than 9% in early trading on Thursday. The firm also confirmed it would not be paying a final dividend to shareholders for 2014/15.

"Finally, we are witnessing the beginning of the Tesco fightback," said John Ibbotson, director of retail consultants, Retail Vision.

"Previous management lacked the bottle to do what needed to be done. [Tesco chief executive Dave] Lewis, it would seem, has bottle aplenty. He has taken some tough decisions."

Also among the cost-cutting measures announced on Thursday were plans to close Tesco's longstanding headquarters in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and move its main offices to Welwyn Garden City.

The firm also said it was looking to sell Dunnhumby, the data business behind Tesco's Clubcard scheme.

No details were given of which stores would be closed, nor of the number of job losses expected.