Tesco to close head office, 43 stores and sell off Blinkbox and Tesco Broadband

Tesco is set to shut down head office and 43 stores following a string of profit warnings and a devastating accounting scandal.

18:27 08 January 2015

Tesco is set to begin desperate measures which will see the closure of 43 stores and even its head office. It will also sell off Blinkbox and Tesco Broadband. The move came after a string of profit warnings and a recent accounting scandal that proved devastating to the brand’s share prices and reputation.

Tesco, which still accounts for more than a third of all grocery sales in the UK, is also going to axe thousands of jobs, slash head office costs, and close its salary pension scheme. It also canceled its plan of building 49 new superstores.

Tesco’s sales tumbled 2.9per cent in the past 19 weeks but were only down by 0.3% over the key six-week Christmas period.

Matt Davies, who is tasked run Tesco’s UK and Ireland arm, said: "We have some difficult decisions to make. I am conscious that the consequences of these changes are significant."

Tesco has been rocked by series of troubles in the past months. In December, Britain’s biggest supermarket issued a profits warning. This was followed by an investigation conducted by Financial Reporting Council into the £263 million profits overstatement.