Tesco to reveal revamp plans

EMBATTLED Tesco boss Phil Clarke is set to this week unveil radical changes in a bid to halt the decline of the largest UK supermarket which accounts for one pound of every £10 spent in British shops.

Having to unveil the first annual profits fall in its UK business for about 20 years, he will confirm that all plans to build new superstores are to be put on hold as the grocer gets ‘back to basics’.

Wednesday’s annual results will include plans for hundreds of millions of pounds of investment in improving its fresh food offer as well as making the shopping experience a lot more attractive for customers.

Thousands of new shop floor supermarket jobs are to be rolled out as Clarke attempts to revitalise the UK market and arrest its declining market share.

Joint broker Nomura forecasts a 2pc fall in UK trading profits to £2.47bn over the year to the end of February, but for the group overall, it has pencilled in a 2pc profit gain to £3.88bn.

Tesco sent a chill through the grocery market in January with a shock profits warning.

More than £5bn was wiped off its value after it reported its worst Christmas in decades after its £500m ‘ Big Price Drop’ campaign bombed.

Richard Brasher, who had been UK head for only 12 months, resigned in March.

Richard Hunter at Hargreaves lansdown said: ‘It is rumoured Clarke will reveal £300m of spending on a revamp of existing stores, concentrating on its smaller outlets and further boosting its online offering, as opposed to the previous direction it had been taking of continuing to open hypermarkets. It needs to go back to basics in terms of the UK consumer’.

Clarke desperately needs to get the City back on side and show institutional investors that he means business and is up to the challenge of nursing the UK business back to health.