M&S LEADS HIGH STREET RECOVERY January 4, 2010 HIGH street bellwether Marks & Spencer is this week expected to report its first sales growth in two years, boosting hopes that British consumers have cast aside their gloom and started spending again. The retail giant will update the market on Wednesday on how it fared over Christmas, with analysts expecting M&S to post like-for-like [...]
Clubcard lifts Tesco’s share of customers November 10, 2009 SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is growing market share for the first time in two years as it fights back at its rivals, industry figures show. Tesco’s double Clubcard points promotion – which cost the group around £5m a week – helped its share of the grocery market climb to 30.7 per cent in the 12 weeks [...]
Labour can’t even organise a proper plot January 6, 2010 HOW incompetent can you be? If the Labour Party had any sense, it would remove Gordon Brown as soon as possible; all the polls show that Labour would gain at least some ground with any half-decent alternative leader. A change at this late stage is what the Tories dread the most. Instead, we had the [...]
Labour can’t even organise a proper plot January 7, 2010 HOW incompetent can you be? If the Labour Party had any sense, it would remove Gordon Brown as soon as possible; all the polls show that Labour would gain at least some ground with any half-decent alternative leader. A change at this late stage is what the Tories dread the most. Instead, we had the [...]
Keep your eyes on the pies December 2, 2009 CHRISTMAS without mince pies would be like a British summer without rain – simply not possible. We love our mince pies – at least before a month of over-eating them makes us a stone heavier and permanently nausceous. But they can vary in quality. At their best, they are a combination of sweet, sour, gooey [...]
Bolland’s exit creates a gap November 22, 2009 Marc Bolland’s defection from WM Morrison to Marks & Spencer may have signalled the end of one succession saga – but has promptly sparked another, as the City clamours to predict who will fill the Dutchman’s shoes. Bolland is widely credited with transforming Morrison’s after its problematic acquisition of Safeway in 2004. When news broke [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 3, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES INDIA SOLD ON GOLDGold surged to an all-time high after India bought 200 tonnes of the precious metal, swapping dollars for bullion as the finance minister warned the economies of the US and Europe had ‘collapsed’. India’s decision to exchange $6.7bn for gold equivalent to eight per cent of world annual mine production [...]
Japanese whisky, the spirit of Christmas November 11, 2009 IF JAPANESE whisky sounds like a joke – something akin to the Jamaican bobsleigh team, or Indian wine – then you clearly don’t know very much about spirits. At last year’s World Whisky Awards, Yoichi 20-year-old was voted the best whisky in the world, while Suntory’s Hibiki was voted the best blended whisky. If you [...]
Tesco starts to close gap on faster growing rivals October 13, 2009 TESCO, the UK’s largest retailer, is closing the gap on faster-growing competitors, market researcher TNS WorldPanel said yesterday. TNS, which tracks sales growth in the grocery sector, said sales at Tesco, which has been growing less quickly than rivals in recent months, rose 4.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 4 October. This was [...]
Tesco starts to close gap on faster growing rivals October 13, 2009 TESCO, the UK’s largest retailer, is closing the gap on faster-growing competitors, market researcher TNS WorldPanel said yesterday. TNS, which tracks sales growth in the grocery sector, said sales at Tesco, which has been growing less quickly than rivals in recent months, rose 4.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 4 October. This was [...]