Tesco Defends COO’s Share Sale

One of Tesco’s senior executives was not aware of any price-sensitive information when he sold over £200,000 worth of shares one week before a shock profits warning, said the grocery giant this week. The retailer’s UK Chief Operating Officer, Noel Robbins, sold 50,000 shares at 404.5p on January 4, just one week before the company revealed its worst UK Christmas sales in decades.  The profits warning triggered a 16 per cent drop in its share price; it took £5 billion off the value of the business. The share sale was approved by Chief Executive Philip Clarke. Mr Robbins sold the shares three days before the announcement. "Bob Robbins sold less than 5 per cent of his substantial shareholding in Tesco for necessary family expenditure,” said a Tesco spokesman. “The sale, which was not made within a close period, was approved in the usual way. We are confident that Bob was not in possession of any price-sensitive information at the time that the sale was approved.”    Tesco added that the shares represented a small fraction of Robbins' total holdings. (17 Jan)   © 2012 ESM: European Supermarket Magazine