Fitch cuts Tesco

Fitch Ratings said it downgraded Tesco plc's long-term issuer default rating to A- from A and its short-term issuer default rating to F2 from F1.

The outlook is stable.

The downgrade reflects an expectation that Tesco will not realize debt protection measures in line with the agency's expectation for 2008/20099 and 2009/2010 due to the worsening economic environment, Fitch said.

The downgrade also factors in the negative currency effect on Tesco's balance sheet debt due to sterling's weakness against the euro and the dollar, the depressed consumer environment in the United Kingdom and the difficulty in implementing large property sales and sale and leaseback transactions in the current economic climate, the agency said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.