Tesco share price: Grocer set to axe 1,200 jobs at head office

Tesco (LON:TSCO) is set to slash 1,200 jobs at its head office, The Telegraph has revealed. The move, part of a cost-cutting drive at Britain’s biggest grocer, comes after the company recently unveiled plans to close its call centre in Cardiff, with the closure expected to affect 1,100 jobs.

Investors meanwhile have responded positively to the news, with Tesco’s share price having added 1.72 percent to 171.90p as of 13:10 BST, outperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index having slipped marginally into the red and currently standing 0.10 percent lower at 7,426.28 points. The group’s shares have added more than seven percent to their value over the past year, but have given up just under 17 percent in the year-to-date.

The Telegraph reported today that Tesco had informed affected staff about the pending cull which amounts to 25 percent of employees at offices in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.
“Today we have shared with colleagues across Tesco changes that we plan to make to the way we operate our business. This is a significant next step to continue the turnaround of the business,” a spokesman for the company said, as quoted by the newspaper. “We have made good progress so far in our turnaround but we have more to do. We will work with colleagues to support them as we go through this important transition.”

The supermarket’s chief executive Dave Lewis has been trying to turn around the company’s fortunes after Britain’s biggest grocer suffered an accounting scandal nearly three years ago.
The news of the job losses comes after the latest Kantar data showed yesterday that Tesco had achieved its fasted growth rate in five years over the last three months.
As of 13:31 BST, Wednesday, 28 June, Tesco PLC share price is 171.75p.