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Tesco’s share price has plummeted 50 per cent and it’s now the year’s second biggest FTSE 100 faller
This morning, Tesco issued its fourth profit warning of 2014, saying profit for the financial year ending February 2015 would not be greater than £1.4bn. This is much lower than its estimate of £2.4bn- £2.5bn in August.
But in September, the supermarket chain revealed that it had overstated its profits for the year by £263m, sending profit estimates down and shares plummeting.
Once more, shares are suffering as a result of the company's failure to accurately predict its end of year results, with shares currently down by 6.91 per cent at 174 pence compared to yesterday. During early morning trading, just after the warning was issued, shares were down by as much as 14 per cent.
The biggest annual fall in 14 years
The latest fall means Tesco's overall share price decline for the year so far has been 50 per cent, making it the second biggest faller on the FTSE 100. Tullow Oil, whose shares have gone down by 54 per cent since the start of 2014, fell by the most.
For Tesco, this fall in share price surpasses any year-on-year decline it has experienced since the turn of the century.
The closest match was in 2000, when there was a decline of 45 per cent compared to the previous year, but since then the company has either experienced share price rises or minor share price falls, such as a 16.7 per cent increase in 2012 and a 0.5 per cent decrease in 2013.
The below chart traces Tesco's rise and fall since 2008 (click to view an image which can be zoomed in on mobile).
