Weak holiday sales hurt Tesco shares Summary Box: Weak holiday sales hurt Tesco shares Jan 12 04:26 PM US/Eastern BAD CHRISTMAS: Tesco PLC, Britain's biggest retailer by sales, warned that a key sales figure fell 2.3 percent during the holiday shopping season, far worse than analysts had expected. The company said that will hurt profit growth. CONTEXT: The company cut prices late last year in an effort to draw in customers. But it actually lost market share from a year ago, and the lower prices hurt results. STOCK SHOCK: Tesco stock tumbled 16 percent Thursday, and shares of several rival retailers fell too.