Can 2014 get any worse for Tesco? £2bn wiped off value of beleaguered supermarket's share price after warning annual profits may be £550million worse than expected

• Boss Dave Lewis says profits will not exceed £1.4bn - down from £1.94bn
• Tesco shares plunged from £1.87 overnight to a new low of £1.58  
• Serious Fraud Office still probing claims Tesco 'cooked' previous profits 
• It is the supermarket's fourth profit warning in the past year
• Sainsbury's, Morrisons and even M&S' shares fall after Tesco's bad news 
• Tesco is in the biggest crisis of its 95-year history having haemorrhaged senior staff and seen its stock market value halve to £14billion
• Last month a report said Tesco would have to close stores to survive 

By Martin Robinson for MailOnline

Tesco had £2billion wiped from its market value in minutes today after it was plunged into a new deeper crisis because profits have slumped again.

Its share price fell off a cliff after the troubled supermarket announced its annual profits may be £550million lower than expected. 

Tesco's warning came weeks after it was revealed the Serious Fraud Office is investigating whether it inflated profits by £263million over several years.

Today chief executive Dave Lewis announced annual profits for the 2014/15 financial year will not exceed £1.4billion, when the consensus had been that they would be around £1.94billion. 

The company's shares then opened down 16 per cent this morning - an 11-year low - from £1.87 overnight to £1.58 at 8am - wiping nearly £2billion from its market value.

Shares have risen slightly since then, reaching £1.74 pence at 4.52pm – but this is still a decline of more than six per cent decline compared to yesterday.

With sales falling at their steepest level in four decades and its fourth profit warning in the past year, 2014 could not get much worse for Britain's biggest supermarket.  

+9

In trouble: This chart shows the dramatic fall in Tesco's share price this morning after a surprise profits warning

Slide: This chart shows the relentless decline of Tesco's shares during an awful 2014 for the supermarket 

+9

Shares have risen slightly since then, reaching £1.74 pence at 4.52pm – but this is still a decline of more than six per cent decline compared to yesterday.

+9

This chart show how shares plunged early this morning, but have then risen slightly during the day

The company suspended of eight of its most senior executives amid allegations Tesco artificially improved its results.

The supermarket originally suggested profits were overstated for the first six months of this year by £250million. However, it has now emerged the true figure was a higher £263million and the problems date back to 2012.