Criticism of Tesco summer 2012 according to a leaked document. Ready packed meal firm Findus, Compass Group was the world's biggest catering firm at the time, and Whitbread, which was Britain's biggest hotel group, were indicted for illegally selling concealed horse meat in food products. Compass Group had sold it to 47 Lancashire schools and a "small number" of schools in northern Ireland. As a result, Tesco dropped in market value by Wednesday 16 January 2013. Tesco, the Co-operative Group and Aldi also decided to cancel contracts with ABP Food Group because of the adulteration. In a public letter later that day, 11
Tesco profits by £250 million. The misreporting resulted in almost £2.2 billion being wiped off the value of the company’s stock market value. The suspended executives included former commercial director Kevin Grace and UK managing director Chris Bush. The profit overstatement was subsequently revised upwards to £263 million following an investigation by the accountancy firm Deloitte, and it was clarified that the inflated profit figure was the result of Tesco bringing forward rebates from suppliers. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed on 29 October 2014 that it was carrying out a criminal investigation into the accounting irregularities but declined to give