So it turned out the roasting of the Tesco board was more of a light grilling.
Tesco’s annual general meeting at Westminster was certainly well attended and the assembled investors were in an understandably grumpy mood given that Tesco shares have lost a quarter of their value since autumn last year.
Tesco chairman Sir Richard Broadbent and CEO Philip Clarke fielded questions from frustrated shareholders on subjects ranging from the quality of its South African fruit to levels of soap in its Brent’s Cross toilets and even an 11-year-old boy demanding to know why the company does not support the Living Wage Campaign.
But the event as a whole fell a long way short of the sort of evisceration of strategy and performance that the Morrisons board were met with at their AGM three weeks ago.
Probably the most signification message to come out of the AGM was Tesco’s intransigence on price, with the company firmly rebutting the idea it should further shave margins to recapture market share.
A number of analysts have called on Tesco to take on the discounters (and cheaper rival Asda) more directly because of fears its current pricing strategy leaves Tesco squeezed in the middle between budget and upmarket rivals.
After Tesco’s terrible Q1 results earlier this month (a 3.8% like-for-like sales drop) analysts at Shore Capital wrote: “The sustained poor and under-performance is most clearly because its prices remain too high. Tesco’s customer insight must be drumming up some crazy stuff if it is leading management to adopt its present strategy, which to our minds is clearly not working.”
Sir Richard Broadbent today insisted the supermarket’s strategy will not waver. “Make no mistake, [concentrating on cutting prices] would be a strategy of long-term decline,” he told investors.
Clarke confirmed there would be targeted price cuts in stores, alongside its strategy to revamp its bigger stores and build its lead in convenience and online. Unlike Sainsbury’s, though, Tesco offered no specific plans to take on the discounters other than to ‘stay the course’.
In recent months pronouncements from Clarke and the board have all equated to a plea for time. Tesco insists it has the right strategy in place to cope with the rapidly changing grocery market and wants investors to trust them it will deliver.
Today’s AGM amounted to a similar request for patience. Backing from key institutional shareholders in the press running up to the event and the muted tone of the meeting suggests the board is being granted that time – for now.
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