The newly appointed enterprise tsar Lord Alan Sugar met Sir Terry Leahy for dinner on Tuesday night.
Lord Sugar, who is charged with defending the interests of small businesses, was on a break from his tour of the country meeting small business leaders when he met the Tesco boss. It's not known what the two discussed, but The Grocer has learnt that despite being grilled by a delegate at a Federation of Small Businesses seminar on Monday about the long payment times supermarkets impose on suppliers, Lord Sugar did not raise the matter with Sir Terry.
According to his spokesman, Lord Sugar concluded the supplier, who alleged Tesco took nine months to pay, had failed to get a purchase order, hence the late payment. "Lord Sugar is willing to get this looked into, but based on what he has heard, he does not believe it's the case that Tesco is operating nine-month payment terms."
Lord Sugar, who is charged with defending the interests of small businesses, was on a break from his tour of the country meeting small business leaders when he met the Tesco boss. It's not known what the two discussed, but The Grocer has learnt that despite being grilled by a delegate at a Federation of Small Businesses seminar on Monday about the long payment times supermarkets impose on suppliers, Lord Sugar did not raise the matter with Sir Terry.
According to his spokesman, Lord Sugar concluded the supplier, who alleged Tesco took nine months to pay, had failed to get a purchase order, hence the late payment. "Lord Sugar is willing to get this looked into, but based on what he has heard, he does not believe it's the case that Tesco is operating nine-month payment terms."
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