A luddite levy on online shopping won’t help the high street October 23, 2018 Time and time again over the past few months, we’ve heard prominent figures in the retail world call for a special sales tax on online companies to help prop up their struggling sector, from the Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis, to the New West End Company that represents Selfridges and Marks & Spencer. Chancellor Philip [...]
Asda and Sainsbury’s mega merger could hit Aldi and Lidl’s trollies October 17, 2018 Britain’s store wars are intensifying by the day but the force is still strong with German discounters Aldi and Lidl. The price-cutters continued to steal market share from the Big Four supermarkets in the 12 weeks to 7 October, figures from the closely-watched Kantar Worldpanel report showed yesterday. Aldi’s sales growth, its fastest since January [...]
Barratt chair threatened with investor rebellion after shareholders advised to vote against re-election October 16, 2018 Housebuilding giant Barratt Developments could suffer a revolt at its annual general meeting tomorrow, after an influential shareholder advisory group recommended investors vote against the re-election of chairman John Allan. PIRC has said that Allan, who is also chair of Tesco, “cannot effectively represent two corporate cultures…the possibility of having to commit additional time to [...]
Shopping spree: Aldi and Lidl gain market share at expense of big three supermarkets October 16, 2018 The UK's biggest supermarkets lost ground to their budget rivals in the three months into the start of October, as the return of chilly weather marked the end of a bumper summer of growth. Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda all lost market share to Aldi and Lidl, with Tesco shedding 0.6 percentage points and Sainsbury's losing 0.4 percentage points [...]
In the new age of cyber warfare, finance firms are on the front line October 15, 2018 Throughout history, the job of the nation state has been to protect citizens from a range of threats, be that disease, famine, or foreign invasion. In an analogue world, these threats were physical in nature and, as a result, mostly localised. The threat landscape is radically different in a connected, digital world. Critical infrastructures, from smart [...]
Tesco boss Dave Lewis tells court of ‘shock’ at discovery of accounts misstatement October 11, 2018 Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis told Southwark Crown Court today of his “genuine shock” at being presented with an internal memo detailing a £250m misstatement in the supermarket giant’s accounts. Lewis, a witness at the fraud trial of Tesco’s ex-managing director Chris Bush and ex-UK food commercial director John Scouler, said he was presented with [...]
Tesco execs stayed silent about a massive hole in its accounts say prosecutors October 9, 2018 Two senior former Tesco executives on trial for fraud in London were presiding over a “car crash waiting to happen” Southwark Crown Court heard today. Sasha Wass QC, prosecuting for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said Tesco’s former UK managing director Chris Bush and ex-UK food commercial director John Scouler were aware of a shortfall [...]
Former Tesco directors face court over roles in 2014 accounting scandal October 8, 2018 Two former Tesco directors faced allegations in court today that they manipulated figures that resulted in the supermarket chain's 2014 accounting scandal and a £2bn wipe-off of its share price. Christopher Bush, Tesco's former UK managing director, and ex-UK food commercial director John Scouler have each been charged with one count of fraud and false accounting. Former UK [...]
Tesco scraps best before dates on fruit and veg lines as supermarket aims to cut food waste October 8, 2018 Tesco will remove the best before dates on apples, oranges and dozens of other fruit and vegetables in its latest attempt to help reduce food waste, the company announced today. The store is set to scrap dates on 116 fresh produce products, a move it claimed 69 per cent of customers would support. It wants to [...]
Tesco share price falls despite taking the fight to supermarket rivals with rising revenues October 3, 2018 Tesco aimed to cement its status as the UK’s largest supermarket today with rising revenue and operating margins as it fights off competition from merging rivals and cheaper competitors. However, shares fell more than seven per cent in morning trading as the retailer missed a key profit metric. The figures The retail giant posted a 13 [...]