Supermarket titan Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) was the worst blue-chip performer this morning, and it has not been doing too well on Twitter either.
Some are not happy about their employment policies.
#Tesco here's an idea, how about Tesco pay back the housing benefit which their part-time workers have to rely on? #outoftheirprofits
— Chatworthy in Essex (@spiritwriter66) April 12, 2017
#tesco I see they are making obscene profits again by not giving full time jobs to staff. We all subsidise the fat cats. It's called theft.
— RH (@elstead161) April 12, 2017
Others believe the “obscene profits” are illusory.
#Tesco economic losses widen by £418m to £1.97bn by our calcs. Shareholder value rate of erosion increasing. Strategy not delivering.
— vysyble (@seetrends) April 12, 2017
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They are not impressed by “Drastic” Dave Lewis, the chief executive, either.
@BBCBreaking #Tesco economic losses grow from £1.55bn in 2016 to £1.97bn in 2017. Share price currently 36% lower than July 2014 when last CEO was fired.
— vysyble (@seetrends) April 12, 2017
While Chris Bailey offers some interesting insight into why the supermarkets are building shops of the sort of size they used to have back in the sixties.
The smaller the stores...the better the #Tesco stores perform
Convenience and related still a compelling theme... pic.twitter.com/VA7c4SKF3K
— Chris Bailey (@Financial_Orbit) April 12, 2017
What was it Marvin the Paranoid Android from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” said?
“Loathe them or ignore them; you can’t like them”.
Except that’s not strictly true:
Good results from #Tesco today, and imminent resumption of dividends is welcome, but sector competition remains very strong. #investments
— Ian Forrest (@IanForrest2) April 12, 2017
In contrast, fellow retailer WH Smith Plc (LON:SMWH) gets off relatively lightly.
Spoof books [and price gouging] help soften blow from waning colouring craze for WH Smith https://t.co/0CPpEFOP6G
— Duncan Robinson (@duncanrobinson) April 12, 2017
Apparently, the hashtag #OffendEveryoneIn4Words is trending. Lots of people seem to think Tesco has managed it in one.
I thought this person was talking about tea at first and was about to complain rabidly, but it looks like their strange habit applies to breakfast cereal.
I pour milk first #OffendEveryoneIn4Words pic.twitter.com/Do07SmwDR9
— Cold And Blue (@Lost_lighter666) April 12, 2017
Never mind, Tesco; there are always some people more unpopular than you …
#OffendEveryoneIn4Words Hunt is performing brilliantly pic.twitter.com/ZliLrCDXUu
— NHS Million (@NHSMillion) April 12, 2017
Take Sports Direct International PLC (LON:SPD), for instance.
It’s not a well-loved company, but it received some positive coverage today after appointing its first workers’ representative to attend board meetings.
Unite, Britain’s biggest union, dismissed it as a public relations exercise and said the newly appointed board member would “face an uphill struggle to have workers’ concerns heard and to resolve the deep-rooted problems across the business”.
Slightly more parochial concerns are voiced by “The Mag”, the self-styled independent voice of Newcastle United since 1988.
“Sports Direct decision to pay Newcastle United for advertising appears to be reversed,” the online fanzine reported.
“Since taking over the club in 2007, Mike Ashley has used NUFC to advertise and promote his retail empire, with no money being paid to the football club in return,” the fanzine fulminates.
“St James Park was even shamefully renamed and given SD branding, once again with Sports Direct shareholders benefiting but not Newcastle United,” the column continues.
Well, that’s as maybe, but at least we pedants no longer had to wince at the absence of a possessive apostrophe every time we read “St James [sic] Park”.
Apparently, the fans were promised that Sports Direct would start paying for advertising, but a rummage through the company’s accounts indicates that they it has not.
On the plus side, at least the club is not turning out in the Sports Direct colours of blue and red.