Tesco slumps 5% on record loss as early gains evaporate

Tesco shares have sunk 5% this afternoon as investors took an increasingly dim view of its £6.4bn full year loss.

The company's shares rose 2% at the open despite the stock's worse than expected loss, but stood down as much as 5.8% this afternoon before regaining some ground to stand 4.8% lower at 223.5p a share. Earlier, Tesco took £7bn in one-off charges in a "very difficult" fiscal 2014, including a £4.7bn fixed asset charge as the group wrote down the value of its property portfolio. The total loss of £6.38bn compares with analyst expectations of a £3bn-£5bn figure, and represents one of the largest corporate losses in UK history. The wider FTSE 100 was 0.8% lower this afternoon, trading a...