Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Tesco to hand back £58m of business rate relief
- Follows criticism for paying dividends to shareholders
John Allan, Tesco’s chairman, adds the Tesco is ‘financially strong enough’ to repay the the money.
“The Board has agreed unanimously that we should repay the rates relief we have received. We are financially strong enough to be able to return this to the public, and we are conscious of our responsibilities to society.
Paying back the business rates relief is the “right thing to do”, says Tesco’s CEO Ken Murphy.
“Our colleagues have done an exceptional job in responding to the challenges of the pandemic. We have invested more than £725m in supporting our colleagues, putting safety first, more than doubling our online capacity to support the most vulnerable customers in our communities, and hiring thousands of additional colleagues at a time of need.
While business rates relief was a critical support at a time of significant uncertainty, some of the potential risks we faced are now behind us.
