Tesco: why did it all go so wrong? | Andrew Simms

A blinkered pursuit of profit has wounded Britains biggest supermarket group

Tesco starts investigation into overstated profits

There are two types of chancellor, Gordon Brown used to joke. Those who fail and those who get out in time. Tescos former chief executive, Terry Leahy, now enjoying a lucrative career as a feted business guru, got out in time. The irony is that many of the problems now bringing the retail giant low are a legacy of the strategic decisions he made.

The latest blow to the company is the extraordinary overestimate of expected half-yearly profits amounting to a quarter of what was expected for the period that has seen Tesco lose about a tenth of its value, massive in City terms. Its an unwelcome greeting for the new chief executive, Dave Lewis, who has only just taken over from Leahys successor, Philip Clarke. The latter left after failing to resolve the problems he inherited.

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