Fears more retailers will follow Tesco refurb cuts

摘要

Construction firms in the retail sector should be braced for further spending cuts from the big retailers experts warned after Tesco slashed its store refurbishment budget, writes Vern Pitt. Last week, Tesco cut £400m from its capital spending budget as the retail giant issued another profit warning, attributed to "challenging trading conditions". In a statement to the City, the retail giant said it would cut its capital spending programme by £400m to £2.1bn in this financial year. It said: "This will be achieved in a number of areas including IT and the slower roll-out of our store refresh programme." The announcement came as the firm said that it had cut its profit forecast for this financial year from £2.8bn to between £2.4bn and £2.5bn.