Tesco slashes corporate jobs as profit falls

Tesco plans to cut 325 jobs at its corporate office in Welwyn Garden City, U.K., as it reported a profit loss of 64 percent in the first half of 2022.

“Last month, we announced some changes to a small number of roles in our office and regional teams, to ensure our business is as simple and efficient as possible and so we can continue to invest for our customers,” a Tesco spokesperson told SeafoodSource. “This means a reduction of around 325 roles. We currently have over 500 vacancies in our office and will work with colleagues to find alternative roles wherever possible.”

The Tesco spokesperson declined to comment on how the corporate job cuts impact its seafood executives.

The retailer also said it plans to save GBP 500 million (USD 554 million, EUR 572 million) this year, “partially mitigating significant cost pressures.”

In addiiton to job cuts, “thousands” of staff have also been forced to take large pay cuts, The Guardian reported.

The job cuts come on the heels of a steep decline of 63.9 percent in before-tax profits caused by inflation along with reduced volumes “as a result of post-pandemic normalization,” the retailer said in its H1 2022 operating results, released 5 October.

Tesco’s total adjusted retail operating profits fell 10 percent to GBP 1.25 million (USD 1.4 million, EUR 1.43 million).

Right before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Tesco closed fresh seafood counters in around 90 stores, citing a challenging grocery market and more customers shopping online. Then, in February 2022, the retailer announced it was closing meat, seafood, and hot deli counters in more than 300 of its U.K. stores.

Grocery inflation is impacting all U.K. food retailers, hitting a record high of 12.4 percent in August.

As a result, shoppers are visiting discount grocers more often, hampering sales at Tesco and other supermarket chains. Aldi’s sales soared 18.7 percent for the quarter ending 4 September, reaching a 9.3 percent market share and making it Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket for the first time, data firm Kantar said. Similarly, Lidl’s sales spiked 20.9 percent and its market share increased to 7.1 percent.

Photo courtesy of monticello/Shutterstock