Shareholders berate Tesco board members as profits continue to fall

Shareholders at Tesco’s annual meeting yesterday berated the British retailer’s board for its low share price and poor results, and questioned whether management knew what it was doing.

“You just have not got a clue,” one private investor told the heated meeting in London. “No wonder customers don’t trust you anymore. We are paying you millions, you’re supposed to be the best brains in Britain. You are abusing us.”

Tesco stunned the market in 2012 when it issued its first profit warning in living memory. It has since struggled to get to grips with a rapid change in shopping habits in the UK where consumers are switching from one big weekly shop to buying less often from a variety of local stores, discounters, upmarket stores and online.