Chickens come home to roost for Mike Coupe as Sainsbury-Asda deal dies February 22, 2019 | City Talk Mike Coupe was a happy chappy back in April. Notably he was caught on camera humming the lyrics to the gold digger's song – 'we're in the money' etc, after announcing a supermarket mega merger like no other. This week however the companies' complete lack of understanding of the Competition and Markets Authority has come [...]
The UK’s best and worst supermarkets: How did Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi and Lidl do? February 22, 2019 The big four supermarket chains have lost ground to budget rivals in a survey of shopper satisfaction, as customers grow increasingly dissatisfied with the the quality of in-house labels. Read more: Watchdog may block Sainsbury's-Asda merger Aldi and Lidl outperformed the big four with customer satisfaction scores of 68 and 66 per cent respectively, according to [...]
Iceland Christmas sales fall despite furore over banned palm oil advert February 20, 2019 Iceland is set to reveal a decline in underlying sales over the festive period after its controversial Christmas advert failed to boost business. A report prepared for bondholders, obtained by the Financial Times, showed underlying sales fell by one per cent in the 16 weeks to 4 January. Read more: Iceland mulls bid for potential [...]
CMA may block Sainsbury’s-Asda merger, finding deal could push up prices and reduce quality February 20, 2019 Sainsbury's suffered a 15 per cent drop in its share price this morning after the grocer's £12bn proposed merger with Asda was thrown into doubt following a swathe of concerns raised by Britain's competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the tie-up could lead to "a substantial lessening of competition at both a national and local [...]
Asda sales growth falters amid competition probe into Sainsbury’s merger February 19, 2019 Asda today reported a slowdown in sales growth in the fourth quarter as it waits for the green light over its planned merger with Sainsbury’s. The supermarket chain, which is owned by US grocery giant Walmart, posted a one per cent rise in like-for-like sales excluding petrol in the three months to the end of [...]
Watchdog delays final report on Sainsbury’s-Asda supermarket merger February 11, 2019 The UK's competition watchdog today extended its probe into the supermarket tie-up between Sainsbury's and Asda by eight weeks. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had decided to delay the publication of its report to give it enough time to “reach a fully reasoned final decision” on the £12bn merger. An inquiry group [...]
Iceland mulls bid for potential Sainsbury’s-Asda store sell-offs February 11, 2019 Frozen foods giant Iceland is mulling a move to snap up supermarket stores that Sainsbury’s and Asda could be forced to offload as part of their proposed tie-up. "We are looking at everything for sure," Iceland's managing director Richard Walker told the FT. "Food retail drives footfall and we are the only supermarket that is [...]
Aldi and Lidl bag more market share as Veganuary boosts supermarkets’ fresh produce sales February 5, 2019 Aldi and Lidl enjoyed the strongest growth of any UK supermarket over the past 12 weeks, according to the latest industry figures, as Veganuary boosted fresh produce sales across the sector. Around 18.3m households shopped in at least one of the discount supermarkets in the 12 weeks to 27 January, industry research firm Kantar Worldpanel data revealed [...]
Unleaded petrol pump prices in the UK: Petrol and diesel prices drop for third month in a row February 5, 2019 The price of petrol and diesel dropped for the third month in a row in January, as the cost per litre reduced by more than 1p. The UK average price of unleaded was 120.92p on average, while diesel was 130.01p, according to research from RAC Fuel Watch published today. Read more: Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's to cut price [...]
Court rules in favour of Asda workers in equal pay claim against supermarket giant January 31, 2019 Asda workers have been handed a victory in their equal pay claim against the supermarket giant after the Court of Appeal ruled that store workers' roles are comparable to jobs in its warehouses. Tens of thousands of store workers claimed they had been discriminated against in being paid less than their male counterparts who predominantly [...]