Market watchers had predicted a huge loss for Tescos but the £6.4 billion was beyond anything previously reported in its history.

When trading conditions are poor there is something to be said for declaring all the bad news in one hit and then moving on with a comparatively clean sheet and this seems to be the strategy that CEO David Lewis is going for. Certainly the share price reflects a feeling that serious action was long overdue, gaining 1.5% after the news was released, on improved prospects for the future and maybe no more skeletons.

The underlying pure trading profits for the year to the end of Feb 2015, were over 50 % lower than the previous year at £1.4 billion, due to supermarket price wars and a stated lack of competitiveness.

Most of the posted loss has come from property revaluations, branch closures, plus a halt on the building of new Tescos branches until the house is in order.