Tesco was founded in 1919 in London by Jack Cohen. Since then the business has grown rapidly and now operates in 14 markets across Europe, North America and Asia. Tesco employs over 500,000 people and serves millions of customers every week. A significant focus that the business has is to do the right thing for customers, employees and the local communities which they serve. They have a vision of being highly valued by customers, communities, staff and shareholders, as well as being a growth company, applying skills to a global market. In 2011, in order to achieve their vision, they set out a seven-part strategy which would reflect changing consumer demands and the increased global nature of the organisation.
Number 4 in the strategy states Tesco’s objective of growing retail services in all their markets. Therefore, the company is driven towards achieving growth. By moving into international markets, Tesco have been able to establish a reputation and gain market share. The number of Tesco stores worldwide stands at 6,351 and in 2012, the business had revenue of £64.539 billion across all markets. Tesco also has the aim of building their workforce. By moving into new markets abroad, they have been able to establish a diverse and multicultural workforce, with the brandname being widely recognised across the globe. The company’s main products are groceries and basic supermarket goods. However; they also sell clothing, electrical goods, toys, jewellery, and many other things. Tesco also do banking, internet and have a mobile phone network.
Tesco is a Public Limited Company (PLC) which means that it is owned by shareholders and run by directors. The current Tesco share price, as shown above, is 372.80p. There are around 2,174,296,900 people with shares in the business.
The table to the left, also taken from the London Stock Exchange website, shows that the earnings per share (EPS) value has gone up every year since February 2008,