Britain's Fraud Office to probe Tesco accounting errors: Sky News

[LONDON] Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to launch a formal criminal probe into accounting errors at troubled supermarket Tesco, Sky News reported on Wednesday.

Britain's biggest retailer, which has suffered a string of recent profit warnings and management exits, is already being investigated by accounting watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council, after the firm overstated first-half profits by 263 million pounds (US$424 million).

Both the SFO and Tesco declined to comment. Shares in Tesco slipped half a per cent on the news.

REUTERS