Fully wrote:
Maybe so but like any other business they're going to have move their money around to different areas.
However, I_A's point was that they've 'overspent' on building stores/acquiring sites. I have seen no evidence of this. Equally, they're hardly going to curb building new stores as the revenue from them will far outweigh the costs.
Actually I used the term 'over-budget' on their new store development programme for the last two years (in the section of the original post deleted) and not 'overspent' as you are posting I said. There is a very subtle difference in those two statements, so I needed to clarify that for the record.
In answer to your question, Tesco have made clear to all their store development partners that they have indeed exceeded their budgets for the last two years and the reason they told them this, is that they are looking to these partners to value engineer developments as much as possible. I am not sure why you would think you would find this information on their website? While the information of the overspend is not confidential, the actual budget amounts would indeed be reasonably confidential and I bet you can't find any information on any other Tesco departments which have come within or over their budgets for the year either.... why would you?
The point is, every department in Tesco has budgets and budgets are set for many reasons and one of the biggest reasons in Tesco is to continue to deliver a high level of profitability & therefore return for it's shareholders. Tesco is not a bottomless pit and while going maybe tens of millions over budget on store development the last couple of years will not see Tesco unable to 'afford' this, they equally want to keep their costs as low as possible in a difficult global downturn. The point was originally made to demonstrate the fact that now having to a develop a store on stilts, which would cost maybe 25% more, on the WR site, explains why they would look at other options where in previous years speed (which site can be delivered first) would often justify a higher development cost, the focus as changed in recent years to keep development costs as low as possible. Equally, the last Tesco new store development programme I saw didn't include either a Wakefield or Castleford store being delivered in 2012. This programme is fluid and projects get added and projects fall off in the last quarter of the year previous, but generally that programme is the one that matches the budget set!
As for the other sites Tesco are looking at, the information I have is that Tesco have other site options in Castleford they are looking at instead of WR, but I have no idea where exactly those other options are, but a site up near the bus station has been mooted.
The 'industry' is saying WR is no longer in Tesco's plan for a new store, and that is now coming from many different sources, that is as much as I can tell you.