Tesco has denied it is falling prey to fashion at the peak of the cycle with its plan to sell some of its real estate portfolio and return £3bn cash to investors.
Andrew Higginson, finance director, says the supermarket giant remains a conservative company in financial terms and it is committed to keeping at least 70% of its stores freehold.
Neither does it give any value to the “opco-propco” model. Higginson says property goes to the heart of being a retailer.
A comment piece, in the Financial Times says last week’s move to sell some of its property was “frankly opportunistic”: “If the market is overpaying for real estate, sell it some,” says the columnist.
23/04/07 Financial Times 18
