Britain`s biggest retailer, supermarket group Tesco, announced Wednesday that it had plunged massively into the red last year as it took a hit on the value of its property.
Tesco, which was hit by a major crisis last October after accounting errors that overstated profits, reported a loss after tax of £5.74 billion ($8.58 billion, 8.0 billion euros) in the 12 months to the end of February.
That compared with a net profit of £974 million in 2013/14, the group said in an earnings statement.
"It has been a very difficult year for Tesco," chief executive Dave Lewis said in the statement.
"The results we have published today reflect a deterioration in the market and, more significantly, an erosion of our competitiveness over recent years."
Tesco announced £7.0 billion of one-off charges, mostly linked to a writedown on the value of its property.
It also revealed an impairment of £630 million relating to Tesco`s investment with China Resources Enterprise Ltd.
Stripping out the exceptional charges, Tesco reported annual pre-tax profit of £961 million, down 68 percent.
"The market is still challenging and we are not expecting any let-up in the months ahead," added Lewis, who joined Tesco in September.
Shortly after his arrival, Tesco revealed that it had overstated profits by £263 million as a result of accounting errors stretching back to before 2013.
Britain`s Serious Fraud Office is probing the accounting blunder at the group, which is the world`s third-biggest supermarket chain after France`s Carrefour and global leader Walmart.
The scandal sparked the suspension of eight Tesco executives and the resignation of chairman Richard Broadbent. Lewis has meanwhile already said he will shut a number of loss-making stores and scrap plans to open more outlets.
The supermarket giant is facing fierce competition in Britain from German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl.