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Dez Creates

Tesco's Irish business is in a world of pain

The company posted its biggest-ever loss today.

Updated 14.43

TESCO HAS BEEN shedding business in Ireland faster than anywhere else the supermarket giant plies its trade.

Today the company announced its biggest-ever plunge into the red – a £6.375 billion (€8.9 billion) pre-tax loss after a huge write-down on the value of its properties and Chinese operations.

Its trading profit, the amount the company actually took in before all the one-off charges, also took a big hit.

The total across all stores was down almost 60% to £1.39 billion (€1.95 billion) for the 12 months to the end of February when compared to the same period a year earlier.

Tesco Tesco Tesco

But it was in the UK retail behemoth’s Irish operations that it had the biggest drop in revenue. Like-for-like sales were down 6.4% to €2.55 billion for the year, easily the largest plunge of any territory in which it trades.

It represents a big turnaround since 2010, when the Republic was reported to be the most-profitable region for the then-dominant grocer amid claims Ireland was known as “treasure island” in the company’s UK offices.

German chains Aldi and Lidl have since taken a major bite out of Tesco’s customer base, while SuperValu this month supplanted it as the country’s most-popular supermarket chain.

Taking into consideration the euro’s fall against the pound, Tesco’s Irish take plunged a massive 10.8% last year.

2910558518_3ea4c4f2eb_z Gordon Joly Gordon Joly

Closures, cuts

The company has been in crisis mode since October after admitting it previously overstated its profits by £263 million through dodgy accounting.

Since then it has announced plans to take the razor to its costs with the closure of 43 stores and dropping another 49 scheduled openings.

Before the end of next February, Tesco plans to close a net 519 stores across Europe with Ireland one of the few territories expected to remain untouched.

The company has already shed 90 jobs among former night staff and several more office roles in Ireland since the start of the year.

FILE PICS Tesco Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

‘A difficult year for Tesco’

Today’s trading announcement was the company’s biggest loss in its 96-year history – and one of the largest-ever in the UK.

“It has been a very difficult year for Tesco,” chief executive Dave Lewis said.

The results we have published today reflect a deterioration in the market and, more significantly, an erosion of our competitiveness over recent years.

“The market is still challenging and we are not expecting any let up in the months ahead.”

PastedImage-49694 Dave Lewis Screenshot Screenshot

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is still probing the accounting blunder at the group, which is the world’s third-biggest supermarket chain after France’s Carrefour and global leader Walmart.

The scandal sparked the suspension of eight Tesco executives and the resignation of chairman Richard Broadbent. Lewis has meanwhile already said he will shut a number of loss-making stores and scrap plans to open more outlets.

The supermarket giant is also facing fierce competition in Britain from the German discount chains, as well as its traditional rivals.

- with AFP and additional reporting from Nicky Ryan; first published 7.48am

Read: No, Tesco did not refuse a British soldier service to avoid offending Muslims >

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92 Comments
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:31 PM

    No good will come from this. Now the EU can control not only what you say, but what you read. They love free speech and democracy though! Down with Big Brother.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:36 PM

    @: What’s the problem with blocking bots and misinformation?

    US democracy came close to being overthrown in 2020/21, and social media disinformation played a big part in that. Aren’t freedom and democracy worth protecting?

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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:40 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: Blocking bots and misinfo? Oh dear, you might be out of a job. No more €1.25 per post for you :-(

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    Mute Trent
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:40 PM

    @: The irony of your post is,, it was posted by an anonymous bot

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    Mute Ignatius J Reilly
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:42 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: allowing others to decide on your behalf what constitutes disinformation does not protect freedom, it surrenders freedom. And US democracy did not come close to being overthrown in 2020/21, that is hyperbolic nonsense, or in your preferred parlance – disinformation. Who knows, maybe some day our great and glorious betters will see fit to censor you from spouting such nonsense, all in the name of protecting your freedom of course.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:48 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Trump attempted a coup, and might have succeeded if the situation had been slightly different. That would have been the end of US democracy. These are facts. Perhaps he will succeed next time, if there is a next time.

    The criteria for what is and is not mis/disinformation are pretty straightforward and can be determined quite easily by a democratic state/society: truth and facts versus Trumpian/Putinian anti-facts, false narratives and conspiracy theories.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:48 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Brendan actually works for the type of people who are bringing in this rule, so he’ll be fine.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:56 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: no, Trump did not attempt a coup. A lie no matter how oft repeated is still a lie. So essentially you just want other people restricted from saying things, but anything you make up can just be followed by “these are facts”, and since paradigms never change it will never be you who falls foul of such authoritarian laws.

    Only weak people crave authority in the way you do, be they emotionally weak, intellectually weak, or both. We saw with the devastating damage caused by the reactions to covid what pandering to the weak and cowardly achieves.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:59 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Trump attempted to overturn the result of a legally constituted election and incited his followers to match on the Capitol: what was that if not a coup?

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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:03 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: anyone who attempts a coup against the federal government in the US is charged with sedition. Trump has not been, and will not be, charged with sedition. So what we actually have is some events that occurred, you being hyperbolic about those events, and interpreting those events through your hyperbolic lens to reach obviously false conclusions: This is a dictionary definition of disinformation. And you will engage in it while simultaneously championing restrictions on disinformation, completely lacking the wit to even understand the contradiction or potential consequences. On the bright side, there’s a good chance it’s not the ‘emotionally weak’ category you fall in though.

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    Mute Diarmuid Hunt
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:05 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Do you know the difference between disinformation and misinformation?

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:11 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Your argument is that if someone hasn’t been charged with a crime, the crime never happened. That’s not very convincing.

    ‘So what we actually have is some events that occurred’ – yes, an attempt to overturn a lawful election, which would bring an end to democracy and the rule of law.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:16 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: no, my argument is that you are being hyperbolic, and I am using the findings of the US federal justice system who investigated the events in question to support my argument. Your argument appears to be that whatever your interpretation of events is is automatically correct, because you like authoritarianism, and you have precisely nothing to support your argument.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:24 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: My statement that Trump illegally attempted to overturn the election is overwhelmingly supported by facts, as will become even more apparent next year.

    My distaste for authoritarianism is the very reason why I feel that action should be taken against the deployment of its tools, on social media and elsewhere,.

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    Mute Ignatius J Reilly
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:29 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: it’s not supported by any facts because it’s something you made up. That’s why you cannot support your silly hyperbolic argument with anything other than reiterations of how you’re correct, because reasons.

    “My distaste for authoritarianism is exactly why I support these authoritarian measures.” Very convincing, unfortunately for you words actually mean things, and the words you use demonstrate quite clearly what an authoritarian fruitcake you are.

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    Mute brendan C5
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:47 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: so the side you’re on is always right and the other side is always wrong, but you only hear what’s going on from the news outlets on the side you’re on. You’re brainwashed I’m afraid. I listen to both sides on a similar story and make an informed opinion, just like the gas pipelines story, Russia did it, then Ukraine did it with a small sailing boat. When all along it was the USA because they had everything to gain, even Joe biden and Victoria nuland said it months before it happened.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 4:17 PM

    @: Might be a start to weeding out you Bots.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 5:59 PM

    Not really. If people stop using multinational operated services, they can’t do anything. For example, use bitchute, rumble, yandex. They don’t care about censorship or the EU.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 7:29 PM

    @: the usual misinformation. Did you read the actual bill?

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    Aug 25th 2023, 7:52 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: the issue here Brendan is who is deciding what misinformation is. The last few years have only highlighted that blind faith causes harm and most don’t trust the people in charge. I certainly don’t trust people I never met.

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    Mute James Brohan
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:48 PM

    What an evil organization the EU is. It has completely subsumed its members individual sovereignty, whilst at the same time being beholden in a vassal manner to the US. Add this unnecessary monitoring of its citizens, it only shows what a fragile state the EU is in. If it was strong and made up of open and democratic values, there’d be no need for covert vigilance like this. It’s sad that what started out as a commercial community designed to enhance peace has evolved into a secretive war driven operation. I’d give the EU another 5 – 7 years, 10 years tops, before this failed organization collapses in on itself. The big cracks may begin elsewhere but the final straw will be when the Germans say enough is enough, it’s time to wind this thing down and return to the Deutsche Market etc.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:03 PM

    @James Brohan: Best of luck with that,the EU is the best thing to happen to this country and plenty more.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:16 PM

    @James Brohan: with support hitting 93%, I’d say good luck with that.

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    Aug 26th 2023, 6:44 AM

    @James Brohan: pony talk everybody loves the eu even the brits want back in

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    Mute Steve
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:36 PM

    When people say ‘what’s the problem with blocking misinformation’, maybe stop and think for just a second that anything can be called misinformation if someone wants to call it that, no matter whether it is true or false or a grey area (as is often the case). This is actually very dangerous and only because it is convenient now for some folk to have the opinion of others ‘banned’. Just wait until that convenience is gone, the tide changes and how ‘good’ free speech will be banned. A very slippery slope!

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:41 PM

    @Steve: But it has to be attempted (and, of course, it has to be done right). Otherwise, in a free-for-all with the technology we have now, the very concept of truth and facts will become a thing of the past (which is exactly what Trump and others like him are working towards).

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    Mute Ken O'Neill
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    Aug 25th 2023, 5:10 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien:
    .
    Did he manage to get Trump in there to try and justify his warped logic? – yes he did, these Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers really need therapy and/or counselling to try and cure them of this peculiar obsessive mental illness that has afflicted them.

    48
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    Aug 25th 2023, 3:25 PM

    As the old saying goes, those who censor are never the good guys. They do the same in China.

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    Mute Trent
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    Aug 25th 2023, 3:51 PM

    @: say’s the bot from ?

    23
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    Aug 25th 2023, 4:18 PM

    @Trent: I’m afraid not, I’m just not communist. All non communists are not bots. I know you not used to chatting with a non communist so I will over look your comment.

    38
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    Mute Ken O'Neill
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    Aug 25th 2023, 4:28 PM

    Welcome to commEUinism

    90
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    Mute Bass Boss
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    Aug 25th 2023, 5:26 PM

    All this is to be able to control the narrative… simple

    69
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    Mute Trent
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:26 PM

    Seen as though most of them have there European headquarters here i guess we’ll be in charge of it ,,sure what could go wrong

    61
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    Mute Sean O'Dhubhghaill
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:36 PM

    Good news.

    46
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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:51 PM

    ‘It has completely subsumed its members individual sovereignty’: nope (ain’t you heard of subsidiarity?).

    ‘whilst at the same time being beholden in a vassal manner to the US’ – that’s another nope.

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    Mute Daniel Roche
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:04 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: Fully agree with you.

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    Mute The Irish love this shy....
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    Aug 25th 2023, 4:16 PM

    Welcome news. Well done EU.

    22
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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Aug 25th 2023, 3:02 PM

    I can’t stand the likes of Elon Musk. A thin-skinned vein-glorious fool; I think he’s probably one of the most dangerous men on Earth at present. However; I can’t see how social media can be anything other than all-or-nothing. Censorship just has too much potential for corruption. I’d be all for getting rid of it completely; but that’s obviously not going to happen. We just have to let it be what it is. People have always been susceptible to disinformation. The amount it going around from person to person via the telephone lines in the 80s would put Twitter to shame. But people are slowly learning to be more critical in their thinking. It will take time and there will always be suckers out there.

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    Mute Bomber
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:48 PM

    Good

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    Mute john christopher
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    Aug 25th 2023, 5:25 PM

    There is always the dark net.

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    Mute peter murray
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    Aug 26th 2023, 10:30 AM

    This Misinformation Commission will be a hoot when it starts operations. I’m preparing a list of the factual untruths about asylum seekers put about in media statements by the Irish Refugee Council and other far-left NGOs, and published as fact by The Journal. My list will keep this quango busy for months.
    I suggest everyone should prepare their own list of “Untruths published as fact” by the Journal and the other lefty media for submission to the Commission when it starts operations.

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    Mute Gerard
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    Aug 27th 2023, 10:22 AM

    It’s probably a nessary step, I like how companies will now have to explain to the user why they have been shadow banned. Not so keen on the EU what information needs to be removed or restricted. That seems like it could be quite oppressive.

    4
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    Mute Robert Halvey
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    Aug 26th 2023, 12:06 AM

    I see the right wing manboys are getting well triggered by the fact that the lying treacherous sex offender orange thing looks like justice is finally catching up to him

    4
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    Mute peter murray
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    Aug 26th 2023, 10:36 AM

    @Robert Halvey: I look forward to him sharing a cell with Biden’s little darling. And perhaps they will need to put a third bunk in the cell when they complete the inquiry into the business links between Biden senior and junior called for by the Washington Post on Wednesday.

    10
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