By Ed Ballard
LONDON--A group of Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN) investors has filed a
lawsuit against the company over the accounting practices that led
to an overstatement of 263 million pounds ($414 million) of the
beleaguered grocer's earnings.
The suit comes two days after Tesco, the U.K.'s largest
retailer, issued its fourth profit warning since July, saying
full-year earnings would miss analysts' expectations by around half
a billion pounds. Shares briefly touched 15-year lows.
The lawsuit, seeking class-action status, was filed in New York
on Wednesday by the Chester County Employees Retirement Fund. It
alleges that senior executives "violated provisions of the Exchange
Act by disseminating false and misleading press releases, financial
statements, and statements during investor conference calls."
Another group of U.S. shareholders, the Irving Fireman's Relief
and Retirement Fund, announced another suit in October. That month
also saw the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office opened a criminal
investigation into the accounting practices that led Tesco to book
commercial revenue before it recognizing the associated costs.
A Tesco spokesman declined to comment.
Write to Ed Ballard at ed.ballard@wsj.com
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