Asda takes over Netto in £778m deal May 27, 2010 ASDA has bought the Netto supermarket chain in the UK for £778m. Netto has 193 stores, which will be converted to small Asda stores by next Summer, if regulators give the deal the go-ahead. Asda plans to employ up to twice as many staff in each of the stores it has acquired. It sees the [...]
Asda May 27, 2010 GET ready to slap the change in your back-pocket and shout “that’s Asda Price”: Britain’s number two supermarket has been on a spending spree. At first glance, the £778m that Asda has shelled out for 193 Netto stores looks pricey. The Wal-Mart subsidiary is paying £504 per square foot, mostly for units that are in [...]
Cranswick raises dividend May 24, 2010 Pork supplier Cranswick increased its dividend yesterday after posting a 21 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profits, to a record £43.8m. Increased demand from supermarkets, particularly for higher-end products, is credited for better than expected growth. The company, which has supply contracts with Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference and Tesco, raised its divided more than [...]
Sainsbury’s sales up but VAT alarm raised May 13, 2010 SAINSBURY’S yesterday reported a 17.5 per cent rise in pre-tax profits but warned that a sudden VAT hike from the new government could strangle the high street recovery. The company saw profits of £610m for the year to 20 March – £10m ahead of what was expected by the City. But chief executive Justin King [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SAINSBURY’S PERFORMANCE? May 13, 2010 FREDDIE GEORGE | SEYMOUR PIERCE “We maintain our ‘sell’ recommendation on the stock. We are concerned that we will see a return to the worries of 1990 that the food retail market is approaching saturation as we approach a more austere time for consumers. Also the sector is being more competitive.” SAM HART | CHARLES [...]
Sainsbury’s profit rises to £610m May 13, 2010 SAINSBURY’S made a pre-tax profit of £610m over the year to 20 March. The figure represents a 17.5 per cent improvement on the company’s figures last year. Like-for-like sales – excluding fuel – were up 4.3 per cent. Meanwhile total sales were up 5.1 per cent to £21.4m with new shops and a boost in [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 10, 2010 ITV Nomura maintains a “neutral” recommendation of ITV and forecasts the television company to grow about 1.5 per cent ahead of 2009, partly because of growth from the World Cup this summer. Nomura no longer expects a “big bang” statement on ITV’s strategy and instead expects an announcement in due course. J SAINSBURY RBS said [...]
Sainsbury’s expects to ring up profit rise May 9, 2010 J SAINSBURY is this week expected to say its pre-tax profits grew 15 per cent to £595m, but analysts believe it will avoid giving an update on sales amid tough conditions. Sainsbury’s, the third-largest supermarket chain in the UK by market share, is tipped to hand staff a bonus pool of £70m following a buoyant [...]
Choosing the most suitable card is not a zero-sum game May 6, 2010 WHEN Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank announced earlier this week their offer of 0 per cent interest on balance transfers for the first 16 months, it threw the cat among the pigeons. The two banks, both UK subsidiaries of National Australia Bank, leapt straight to the top of the best-buy comparison tables with the deal, [...]
Banks and champagne are out, but the Tory big beast is still standing May 4, 2010 KEN Clarke has gone awol. He left the last campaign stop at the same time as his chief of staff, who has long since arrived, but is nowhere to be seen. “He insists on driving himself,” one aide tells me, with an exasperated look. Eventually, forty-five minutes after we’re supposed to meet, he storms into [...]