It has been announced today (24 March) that UK shareholders are taking legal action against Tesco following the accounting scandal that hit the retailer last year.

Scott+Scott a US law firm which has already taken legal action against Tesco in America, is claiming that the profit mis-statement has caused a “permanent destruction of value to shareholders”.

The US law firm is financing a UK non-profit group called Tesco Shareholder Claims Limited to gather support for a claim. Another UK law firm Stewarts Law launched a similar claim last year on behalf of Tesco shareholders to see if they were entitled to compensation.

Since the accounting scandal a number of senior executives have left the company, and on Monday it was reported the latest senior executive to leave was non-executive director Patrick Cescau.