LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Some 125 institutional funds have filed a damages claim for more than 100 million pounds ($122 million) against British supermarket Tesco TSCO.L in relation to its 2014 profit overstatement, the group coordinating the legal action said on Monday.
Bentham Europe, which provides financial backing for group claims, said the legal action will seek to prove that Tesco breached the Financial Services & Markets Act by making misleading statements to the stock market that omitted material information and which were relied on by investors.
Tesco issued a statement to the Stock Exchange on Sept. 22, 2014, saying that during its final preparations for a results announcement it had identified a 250 million pound ($304 million) overstatement of first-half profit, mainly due to booking commercial deals with suppliers too early.
Tesco declined to comment. ($1 = 0.8228 pounds)