Directorate Change

Tesco PLC
05 March 2003

5 March 2003


                         TESCO ANNOUNCES BOARD CHANGES


Tesco Plc today announced that David Reid, Deputy Chairman, will become
Non-Executive Chairman when the current Chairman, John Gardiner, retires in
March 2004.

Rodney Chase, until recently Deputy Group Chief Executive British Petroleum Plc,
who was appointed as a Non-Executive Director on 1 July 2002, will become Deputy
Chairman and the Senior Non-Executive Director at the same time.

John Gardiner said: 'I am delighted to have worked with the Tesco team led by
Terry Leahy, Chief Executive, over the last six years. I am very pleased that
David Reid, our Deputy Chairman, will succeed me after he retires as an
executive at the end of the year. His appointment followed a robust, open and
soundly based process run by our Nominations Committee.

'David Reid as well as being an excellent Chairman, will help provide the
necessary continuity for Tesco as it proceeds with the roll-out of its
successful strategy. He has made a huge contribution in different parts of the
business and in recent years has led our international expansion.

'We are also delighted to have the services of Rodney Chase as Deputy Chairman
and our Senior Non-Executive Director. Rodney joined the Board last year and his
business expertise and international perspective have proved invaluable.

'Good management succession is a hallmark of Tesco and these appointments are
part of the Board's long-term evolution.'


For further information:

Lucy Neville Rolfe        Tesco Plc                              01992 644141
Steve Butler              Tesco plc                              01992 644800
Angus Maitland            The Maitland Consultancy               020 7379 5151
Philip Gawith             The Maitland Consultancy               020 7379 5151


NOTES TO EDITORS

David Reid

David Reid, 56, joined the Board of Tesco in 1985 and became Deputy Chairman in
1996. He is currently responsible for international development and operations
and strategic planning. He has been a Non-Executive Director of Westbury plc,
Legal and General Group plc and The Greenalls Group plc.

For the last five years he has led Tesco's international development, including
the organic growth of the Company's hypermarkets in Central Europe and Asia -
now 150 in total-and complementary acquisitions such at HIT.

He was Finance Director of Tesco from 1985 to 1997 and led finance, distribution
and IT during that critical period.

Prior to joining Tesco, he worked for BAT, Philips NV and Peat Marwick Mitchell,
Paris. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Scotland.

Rodney Chase

Rodney Chase, 59, appointed to the Tesco Board in 2002, is former Deputy Group
Chief Executive of The British Petroleum Company plc where he spent his entire
39 year career and held various senior executive positions worldwide.

He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Diageo plc and Computer Sciences
Corporation and previously of The BOC Group plc and National City Corporation.

Tesco

Tesco is an international retailing group operating 1023 stores in ten markets
and employing 285,000 people.

In its last financial year the Company achieved another year of outstanding
organic growth with Group sales rising by 12.7% to £25.7 billion and underlying
pre-tax profits up by 14.1% to £1.2 billion.

These results reflected continuing outstanding performance from all elements of
the Tesco strategy: the core UK business, non-food, retailing services and
international.

The Process

In the second half of 2001, the Nominations Committee of the Tesco plc Board
started the process of seeking a successor to its Chairman, John Gardiner, with
the expectation that the change would take place early in 2004.

The Committee appointed the recruitment consultancy Whitehead Mann to advise on
the process. A major part of this process consisted of Whitehead Mann
interviewing all Board members individually and in confidence, to determine
their views of the role of the Chairman of Tesco plc in the future. During the
process internal and external candidates were put forward and considered.

At the end of the process a report was produced which the Nominations Committee
put in front of the whole Board for comment and decision. At the resulting
meeting, the Board gave full support to David Reid as Non-Executive Chairman.


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