S&P lowers outlook on Tesco's long-term debt ratings

29th Apr 2014 13:44

Ratings agency Standard&Poor's (S&P) has lowered its view on the long-term credit rating of supermarket retailer Tesco, warning that a continuation of the recent trends at the company towards a lower market share, sales and profit could result in a one-notch downgrade.S&P affirmed the company's "BBB+/A-2" long and short-term corporate credit ratings. However, in a parallel move on Tuesday it cut its view on the above ratings to 'negative' form 'stable'. "The outlook revision reflects a greater decline in Tesco's like-for-like sales in the UK than we anticipated, and lower profitability across its retail operations," the agency said.As of 13:45 shares of Tesco were rising by 0.33% to the 303.4p mark. AB