Tesco Confirms dunnhumby Review

Supermarket giant Tesco has confirmed it has appointed investment bank Goldman Sachs to explore options for its data analytics business dunnhumby - language which usually indicates a forthcoming sale.

Tesco is currently being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Reporting Council, to find out how the retail giant managed to overestimate its first half profit by £250m. The company currently has net debt of about £7.5bn versus equity of around £16.8bn, and is planning to slash capital spending to £1bn in the next financial year.

Tesco CEO Dave Lewis confirmed today that Goldman Sachs is helping it look at 'strategic options' for the data firm, following months of rumours - Sky News reported three months ago that venture capital firm TPG had approached Tesco with a c.£2bn offer, and earlier this week it was reported that WPP is also preparing a bid.

Founded in 1989 by husband and wife team Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby, dunnhumby analyses Tesco till data captured through the Clubcard, in order to understand the shopping behaviour, purchasing patterns, and trends of millions of households worldwide. It is estimated that dunnhumby, which now employs more than 2000 people in 30 countries, has helped save Tesco around £350m a year since the two firms began collaborating in 1995, and for the past ten years, dunnhumby has been wholly owned by Tesco.

Web site: www.dunnhumby.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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