Troubled supermarket chain Tesco faced fresh embarrassment last night after it emerged it took delivery of a new corporate jet just days after announcing a massive black hole in its accounts.
The arrival of the £30 million Gulfstream jet took the total number of planes in the company’s fleet to five.
But red-faced company bosses insist they are now selling all five aircraft – together worth an estimated £60 million.
The company is battling to repair its reputation after a £250 million accounting error came to light last month. The amount raised by the sale of the aircraft will be a trifling sum for a multi-billion-pound concern such as Tesco, but as the firm proclaims in its advertising, ‘every little helps’.
The decision to sell the planes was made by new chief executive Dave Lewis. The recently delivered Gulfstream G550 was ordered by his predecessor, Phil Clarke.
Capable of seating 18 passengers, it has apparently been mothballed after it was flown over from the US and is being stored in a hangar in Teesside. It was bought to replace Tesco’s previous Gulfstream which is seven years old and up for sale at £23 million.
The store chain also owns two short-range Cessna Citation jets and a Hawker 800XP, each thought to be worth between £1.9 million and £2.5 million.
Use of the jets has soared in recent years. Figures show the cost of running the fleet steadily increased from £2.3 million in 2009 to £7.9 million in 2011 and in 2012, Phil Clarke’s first year in charge, the cost rose again to £9 million.
Tesco might find its plans to sell the planes are slow to take off. Jet charter firm Hangar8 Aviation said there were 381 corporate jets in the UK, of which 68 are currently up for sale, making it a ‘buyers’ market’.
The Financial Conduct Authority, Britain’s financial watchdog, has started an investigation into Tesco after the supermarket admitted it had overstated its half-year profits by £250 million.
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 3:20 am