Morrisons share price rises, despite 6.3 per cent fall in sales as Ocado tie-in fails to deliver November 6, 2014 If Tesco can take any consolation from its nightmare few months, it only has to look at rival Morrisons to realise it’s not in its struggle against the might of the discounters alone. In its third quarter results statement, Morrisons shortened its underlying profit before tax expectations after it recorded a drop in sales [...]
Marks & Spencer sees food sales spark share price rally November 5, 2014 Marks and Spencer shocked markets yesterday with unexpectedly strong sales, driven by its food business and – until the warm weather in September hit sales – robust clothes results. Investors had been worried that the group would follow Next and Tesco with poor results, but instead flooded back into the stock. The share [...]
M&S boss Marc Bolland puts the focus on womenswear and a five gold rings chocolate Christmas cake November 5, 2014 Everyone knows Marc Bolland is a bit of a charmer. The M&S chief has been under pressure all year with disappointing clothes sales and a finance chief who decided every little really did help and hopped over to Tesco. But yesterday, at the retailer’s half-year results event, the suave Dutchman came out fighting, with compliments. [...]
Ageas UK improves combined ratio despite declining profits November 5, 2014 INSURANCE group Ageas UK reported a £64.8m profit for the first nine months of 2014, down from £73.7m posted for the same period last year. The company improved its combined ratio in the third quarter of 2014, at 96.6 per cent compared with 98 per cent in 2013. Ageas owns Tesco Underwriting, but does not [...]
Vince Cable writes to supermarket regulator over Tesco’s fractious relationship with suppliers November 5, 2014 At some point in the past few weeks, Business Secretary Vince Cable wrote to the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) to voice his concerns about the supplier base of troubled supermarket Tesco, according to Sky News. Cable is believed to told the GCA that he supports a comprehensive review of Tesco's relationship with suppliers and whether [...]
Marks & Spencer’s half year results – here’s what to look out for November 4, 2014 Marks & Spencer is due to report its first half results tomorrow morning, and the consensus is that it will be another gloomy one for the venerable British retailer. Analysts are saying the 770-store retailer will have racked up a 3.7 per cent decline in general merchandising like-for-likes during its second quarter. If [...]
Tesco loses out to Germans discounter Schwarz Beteiligungs in global market as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Seven and I remain on top November 3, 2014 Battered retailer Tesco is losing market share on the global stage as German discount chains continue to steal ground from the British giant, researchers at Euromonitor International said today. Tesco has now been bumped from fourth-largest retail chain in the world into fifth place by German value group Schwarz Beteiligungs. Its dominant position in the [...]
Marks and Spencer likely to join Next and Tesco in slump as like-for-like sales decline November 3, 2014 The slump in British retail is set to hit Marks and Spencer hard this week, after poor financial results from rival Next and supermarket Tesco. Weak sales figures will pile increasing pressure on chief executive Marc Bolland – like-for-like sales have already fallen for the past 13 quarters, despite the growing economic recovery. The consensus [...]
Subtle signals are crucial in business November 2, 2014 Even the smallest actions can make a huge impression – think carefully before asking questions. Subtle signals exist in all of our interactions, and the best businesspeople have a firm command over the messages they are sending. New Tesco boss Dave Lewis, for example, quickly decided to sell the firm’s fleet of private [...]
From Danish sperm and Ukip voters to banking stress tests and Tesco’s criminal probe: 10 things we learned this week October 31, 2014 There was plenty keeping us busy this week, and not all of it was Halloween related. What were the top 10 things we learned? 1. An inadvertent comment by a Royal Bank of Canada employee cost the firm several million dollars. The bank had been working on the record-breaking Alibaba IPO but voluntarily withdrew [...]