Sainsburys ups market share as Morrisons lags November 6, 2012 J SAINSBURY, Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group, has lifted its market share, helped by investment in its cheaper own-brand products, industry data showed yesterday. Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said Sainsbury’s sales rose 6.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 28 October, increasing its share of the UK grocery market to 16.8 per cent from 16.4 [...]
Terry Price to retire from Tesco November 6, 2012 Tesco is set to lose yet another to another of its senior executives, as it confirmed yesterday that its head of non-food Terry Price, is leaving after 18 months in the role. The supermarket group said Price, who returned to the UK from Tesco’s China division to take up the role, is due to retire [...]
Tesco set for a Christmas tussle to win back customers November 6, 2012 TOWARDS the end of last year I discussed in this column how 2011 had seen Tesco’s brand perception scores fall throughout the year. As we would expect to see, perceptions proceeded sales. Tesco’s January announcement that its sales had dropped led to a sell-off that knocked around 100p from Tesco’s share price. This is a [...]
Comet’s passing brings a brief celebration for rivals’ shares but the challenges they face haven’t gone away November 1, 2012 COMETS are said to burn across the sky on the death of a prince. The passing of this Comet was marked instead by the rise of its rivals’ share prices, with Dixons Retail Group doing especially well on the assumption that its chains will pick up business. But no one can pretend that kind of [...]
Cheap doesn’t always mean bad but be prepared for a challenge October 29, 2012 bottleopener@cityam.com THE £5 bottle of wine has long been a staple in everyone’s shopping baskets but that’s changing. Today’s 20 per cent VAT and the general impact of inflation is quickly making it nothing more than a distant memory. With that in mind, accompanied by six City A.M. readers, I set on a quest to [...]
Stobart confident after tough first half October 25, 2012 HAULIER Stobart said yesterday it plans to push further into the air and biomass sectors after the group relied on tight cost management to offset the pressure being placed on its core transport business by nervous retailers. The company, whose Eddie Stobart trucks deliver goods to retailers like Tesco, on Thursday reported underlying pretax profit [...]
Higher spenders would be better than a new strategy October 24, 2012 WHAT does the future of retail look like? Clicks-and-mortar is the buzzword of the moment (Tesco calls its version Clicks and Bricks), a Frankenstein-like stitching together of physical retail locations with online, anytime ordering. When Home Retail Group (HRG) announced its strategy to turn around Argos yesterday that’s very much what it had in mind, [...]
Leading firms support supply chain finance October 23, 2012 LEADING British firms including Tesco, BAE Systems and BT yesterday gave their backing to the government’s “supply chain finance” scheme, which aims to boost working capital for small businesses. David Cameron hosted business leaders at a Downing Street roundtable, where 38 leading firms agreed to actively consider implementing the scheme. Rolls-Royce and Vodafone, who already take [...]
Tesco moves key UK director October 23, 2012 ■ Tesco yesterday said it has moved one of the senior executives tasked with delivering the firm’s £1bn turnaround plan in its home market. The grocer said its UK fresh food commercial director Andrew Yaxley would leave the post he has held for over two years to prepare for a new management role. Yaxley’s duties [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs October 18, 2012 Barclays Mike Rigby has been appointed head of manufacturing, transport and logistics in Barclays’s corporate banking division. He joined the bank in 2008, and was previously corporate director in the manufacturing team. Rigby has also held roles at HSBC. Ernst & Young John Clarke has been appointed partner in the professional services firm’s operational transaction [...]