John Lewis sales accelerating August 13, 2010 RETAILER John Lewis said year-on-year department store sales accelerated last week, shrugging off fears that prospective tax rises and employment uncertainty would hit consumer spending. The employee-owned firm, traditionally seen as a bellwether of the UK retail sector but which has outperformed competitors for over a year, said sales at its 28 department stores and [...]
Waitrose and Sainsbury’s boost their brands January 12, 2010 RETAILERS have had a bumper Christmas according to the British?Retail?Consortium, but here is my review of 2009 as far as supermarkets are concerned. Graph 1 shows the share of total attention that each of the six received on BrandIndex. Over the course of 2009, Aldi and Asda dropped, Tesco and Morrison’s stayed steady, and Waitrose [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 22, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES SIEMENS PROMISES WORKERS JOBS FOR LIFE Siemens’ German workers have struck a deal that will see their jobs secured indefinitely, in an arresting move that highlights how the financial crisis has triggered a fresh consensus between labour and management in corporate Germany. The engineering group said it had sealed an agreement with its [...]
Ocado June 20, 2010 THE former Goldman bankers behind Ocado certainly have chutzpah. Trying to reach a £1bn valuation in a flotation is a tall order for pretty much any firm in these times; to do so without having turned a single penny of profit is nothing short of brazen. Ocado’s product is top-drawer in many respects, there’s no [...]
SANDWICH TALKS GO STALE June 20, 2010 DEAL discussions between the husband-and-wife owners of Eat, Niall and Faith MacArthur, and Waitrose have ended after the two sides were unable to agree a price for the sale of the fast food business. Eat, which is valued at between £100m and £150m, will now concentrate on expanding beyond its 100 outlets.
M&S sales rise but Waitrose wins day January 6, 2010 MARKS & Spencer yesterday reported a rise in sales for the three months to Christmas but warned of a tough year ahead. The retailer saw like-for-like sales rise by 0.8 per cent with record takings on food on 23 December. Food sales overall were 0.4 per cent up on the previous year with general merchandise [...]
Fresh Ocado deal boosts plans to float May 26, 2010 OCADO has struck a new 10-year partnership deal with Waitrose – strengthening its position as it presses ahead with plans to float. The two firms said yesterday they had sealed a deal under which Ocado will be able to continue selling Waitrose products until September 2020. A previous agreement had been due to expire in [...]
Quest: Shares in Ocado are overvalued by 46 per cent July 8, 2010 Analysis firm Quest has delivered another slap in the face to Ocado, as the grocery delivery firm attempts to justify its £1.1bn IPO valuation to investors. The Collins Stewart subsidiary says it values shares in Ocado at just 128p – a staggering 46 per cent under the mid-point put forward in its prospectus. It says [...]
Amazon set to sell groceries July 7, 2010 Ocado’s £1.1bn float was dealt another blow yesterday when internet giant Amazon launched a competing grocery delivery business. Amazon has long toyed with the idea of branching into food delivery, and already does so in the US and Germany, but the timing of the decision heaps pressure on Ocado. Analysts have already questioned the value [...]
Ocado plans pulled apart by research July 15, 2010 ONLINE grocer Ocado has come under fire again for its ambitious £1bn flotation plan, as another research analyst warns investors off the firm. Edison Investment Research said in a scathing note the firm should cut its price by more than half, recommending a £400m to 650m range. It criticised the company’s lack of assets and [...]