Tesco faces fresh lawsuit over accounting scandal

Tesco is reportedly facing a new claim for damages from investor Manning & Napier over its 2014 accounting scandal.

Manning & Napier, a US fund manager, is said to have filed a lawsuit last month after suffering losses of $212m due to the supermarket’s profit overstatement, the Financial Times reported.

A spokesman for Tesco confirmed it was aware of the Manning claim. Lawyers for Manning, however, declined to comment.

It marks the second case filed against the British retailer in the past four months. Allianz Global Investors, Russell Investments and 110 other investors took legal action against the retailer in October.

Tesco argued in the first case that the claims for damages of between £100m and £150m could not be proven.

In September 2014, the supermarket revealed that it had overstated its profits during the first half of that year by £250m. The scandal led to the suspension of eight senior employees and saw Tesco report a 2015 loss of £6.3m - one of the biggest in Britain’s corporate history. Its shares also suffered considerable losses.

Three former senior executives are standing trial in September over claims of fraud and false accounting.