Decent trading statement18 Jun 2021 12:31
Can’t help thinking Tesco has (sensibly) taken the view that it can’t be seen to have overly profited from the Pandemic. Being by far the biggest supermarket, it knows it’s in the limelight and there’s a risk the sector could be hit with a windfall tax. On the plus side, going forwards this could mean there is some upside that can be released gradually. For example, the bad loans hit is probably not as bad as stated, given how the economy has been propped up. Also the sale of the Asian business allowed them to eliminate(?) the pension deficit, which must mean lower extra contributions in future; and hence a direct benefit to future profits. It would be interesting to know what that alone is worth.