Tesco has taken a £4.7bn hit on the value of its stores.
The decline was revealed in the retailer’s annual results, which show losses of £6.7bn for the year ending 28 February. It was the largest loss in the company’s history.
Declining profits have resulted in a £3.8bn impairment charge. The company has also written down the value of the stores it is closing.
The company has written down the value of its stores partly because it is aiming to be more transparent in reaction to last year’s accounting scandal.
Chief executive Dave Lewis said: “It has been a very difficult year for Tesco. The results we have published today reflect a deterioration in the market and, more significantly, an erosion of our competitiveness over recent years. We have faced into this reality, sought to draw a line under the past and begun to rebuild, and already we are beginning to see early encouraging signs from what we have done so far.”
