Retail round-up: Tesco’s former finance boss to be cleared over accounting scandal, Apple told to pay taxes and consumer confidence improves.

UK accounting regulator to clear former Tesco finance boss over profit scandal

Tesco former chief financial officer Laurie McIlwee will be cleared of any wrongdoing over the accounting scandal that rocked the grocer in October 2014, according to Sky News.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is poised to reveal its decision to end its inquiry into Mcllwee, who quit the role two-and-a-half years ago, over the profit misstatement.

According to a source close to the accounting regulator, it acknowledged that it had trawled through "a large amount of correspondence" involving McIlwee and had found no evidence that he had behaved in anything other than a proper manner.

EU orders Appl to pay £11bn in back taxes to Ireland

The European Commission has ruled that Apple has to pay a record-breaking €13bn (£11bn) in Irish back taxes, thereby threatening its future investment in Europe, BBC news reported.

The tech giant was handed the huge bill after an inquiry ruled that a special scheme to route profits through Ireland was illegal state aid.

The commission said Apple’s tax arrangements enabled it to pay a tax rate of as little as 0.005% on its European profits in 2014, according to the probe.

Ireland's finance minister, Michael Noonan, said he disagreed "profoundly" with the decision and would seek Cabinet approval for an appeal.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the ruling would have a "profound and harmful effect" on investment and job creation in Europe and that the company paid all the taxes it owed in all the countries where it operated.

Abercrombie & Fitc plots store closures as sales continue to decline

Clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch has said it is looking to close as many as 60 US stores in the wake of diving sales, The Times reported.

The fashion retailer revealed that second-quarter net sales dropped 4.2% to $783.2m (£598.2m), recording its 14th straight quarterly decline.

Comparable sales fell a slightly steeper-than-expected 4%, mainly owing to lower traffic, including from tourists, at its flagship stores.

Abercrombie has also warned that it no longer expects comparable sales to improve this year.

 

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