Tesco boss unveils quiet confience in getting firm back on track

Just two months after issuing that profit warning, Philip Clarke, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of supermarket chain Tesco, has opened the door to his office, admitting that it can be a pretty lonely place to be.

Explaining how he tried to steer the company in the right direction after underperforming the industry on a like-for-like basis for five years, Clarke admitted that "that is where you learn of the loneliness of being a Chief Executive".

It was back in January, following a disastrous festive trading period, that the company issued its first profit warning in two decades, a move which stripped £5bn from its market value. Since then, Clarke has been pulling out all the stops to ensure this Christmas is not a repeat performance, or rather lack of.

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"I'm absolutely certain [we have made the right decisions], because the alternative is another period of stagnation for the core UK business, which isn't right," he said in an interview with the Financial Times.

"There are a whole series of improvements - the whole "every little helps' strategy all over again."

These improvements so far include the hiring on of 20,000 new staff members, a reorganisation of its non-food online business and injecting new life into its own-brand food.

And Clarke certainly seems confident that the rapid revamp of the UK division, which accounts for two thirds of the company's revenue and profits, is achievable.

Describing the decision to "do three years' work in one" as merely "a tough weekend", he is now determined to "put the love back into our stores."

"It is not my job to look back; my job is to look forward," he said. For Clarke, this means getting back to "doing what we have always done very well, and then we need to make sure that we are seen to be giving something more broadly to society."

But as confident as Clarke is, it's an undeniably tall order that he's facing. The Home division has lost its appeal with buyers, while China has proved itself to be a tough market for the retailer to break into. Despite hundreds of millions being ploughed into it, the US division is loss-making - although it is set to breakeven by 2014.

Whether or not the company reaches its targets remains to be seen, but Clarke is clearly willing to give it his best shot.

"In my time as Chief Executive, I have tried to be more open and engaging. That is the change I want to bring about. That is the legacy I want to leave."

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