Sale share by Tesco boss legitimate claims supermarket giant

Published:  17 Jan at 3 PM

Tesco is standing by UK chief operating officer Noel ‘Bob’ Robbins following revelations that he sold shares worth £200,000, just days before the company issued a profits warning which saw £5 billion wiped from the value of Tesco shares. The supermarket firm claims that Mr Robbins was not in possession of any information that could be considered price-sensitive at the time his shares sale was approved.

The senior executive sold 50,000 shares on 4 January when they were worth 404.5 pence. A week later, Tesco issued its results for the Christmas period in the UK which resulted in a share dive of 16 per cent. The actual sale, which was approved by Philip Clarke, the company’s chief executive, took place just three days before a ‘close period’ preceding the trading update.

A Tesco spokesman has issued a statement which says that the Christmas trading period was not completed until after the completion of the sale, and that the sale was not made within the close period.

The statement adds that Mr Robbins has a substantial holding of Tesco shares and the recent sale represented less than five per cent of this holding. It goes on to say that because Mr Robbins was not actually included in any discussions concerning the coming year’s investment plans or profit guidance, he was not in possession of price-sensitive information.

This is slightly embarrassing for Mr Robbins who, as the man who is in charge of the supermarket in the UK, probably should have been present at such discussions.