MARKET TALK: Citi Cuts Tesco Price Target; Accounting Focus

30th Jun 2010 11:00

1000 GMT [Dow Jones] Citigroup cuts Tesco (TSCO.LN) price target to 350p from 400p. Says by putting Tesco on more comparable accounting to other companies in the sector, it appears to be a much less profitable business. As a result, Citi's alternative FY '09/'10 EPS is 24.2p versus Tesco's underlying EPS of 31.7p and Citi's alternative pretax profit is GBP2,601M versus the underlying pretax profit of GBP3,395M as defined by Tesco. Says: "Tesco's accounting is consistently aggressive." Keeps at sell. Shares are -1.1% at 386p. ([email protected]) Contact us in London. +44-20-7842-9464 [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 30, 2010 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT)