Tesco ropes in PwC for stock takes

BELEAGURED SUPERMARKET group Tesco has roped in its auditor PwC to help more with its stock takes.

The Big Four firm is set to assist the retailer with its plans to probe products that are lost, stolen or damaged in many of its 3,300 stores, reports The Sunday Times.

The request is understood to have been made before the highly damaging scandal over its £263m overstatement of profits was revealed, which led to the Serious Fraud Office starting an investigation.

The newspaper also revealed that is set to end its controversial system of demanding ‘commercial income’ payments from suppliers.

In another sign that the Tesco is starting to tackle the enormous problems that afflict the once mighty group, The Telegraph reports that it has instructed headhunters to find a property chief to sell off its non-core real estate assets in a desperate bid to swell its empty coffers.

Just last week Tesco announced another profit warning, in a move that saw its battered share price plummet another 16% to a 14-year low of 156p.

Group chief executive Dave Lewis, who was parachuted in on 1 September, said profit for the year ending February 2015 would not exceed £1.4bn – well below market expectations, of £1.8bn to £2.2bn – over £1bn down on last year.