2013 horse meat scandal King, which has more than 500 fast food outlets in Ireland and the UK, dropped Silvercrest as a supplier, using suppliers in Germany and Italy instead, after horse meat was found in their supply chain. Waitrose removed beef meatballs from sale when it found that they contained pork. The meatballs were manufactured by an ABP factory in Glasgow. Waitrose, part of John Lewis, said it would be creating a new facility to supply its own beef products. Tesco, the Co-operative Group and Aldi also cancelled contracts with ABP Food Group because of the adulteration. Food wholesaler Makro, supplier to the
Tesco by 10.1% to £3.4 billion. Tesco then planned to create 16,000 new jobs, 9,000 in the UK. In 2011 the retailer reported its poorest six-monthly UK sales figures for 20 years, attributed to consumers' reduced non-food spending and a growth in budget rivals. By 2014, Tesco appeared to have lost some of its appeal to customers. The share price lost 49 per cent of its value up to October as it struggled to fend off competition from rivals Aldi and Lidl. In October 2014, Tesco suspended 8 executives following its announcement the previous month that it had previously overstated its