Ex-Tesco boss says fixing Leahy legacy to take three years

Tesco's former chairman, Ian MacLaurin, attacked the legacy of the retailer's previous chief executive Terry Leahy and told shareholders it could take three years for the world's third largest retailer to recover.

The group, which trails France’s Carrefour and US group Wal-Mart by annual sales, was one of Britain’s most consistent performers until a profit warning in January 2012.

Tesco posted its first profit fall in two decades in April this year, wrote down the value of its global operations by $3.5 billion and confirmed plans to exit its loss-making business in the US, Fresh & Easy, after spending five years trying to crack this market.

Mr MacLaurin told investors at Tesco’s annual meeting on Friday that a chief executive’s performance should be judged both by day-to-day operations and their legacy. – (Reuters)