Bottom Line: Despite the convenience boom, UK grocers are still thinking big December 8, 2013 IF YOU need reminding of the grocery sector’s continuing ambition, all you have to do is step outside your office to the nearest supermarket convenience store. These compact ventures have sprung up across city centres, going from 2,000 branches in 1998 to 14,000 and climbing today, a rate of increase that may seem to put [...]
Tesco says £1bn plan on track as troubles mount December 4, 2013 TESCO boss Philip Clarke insisted yesterday that his £1bn investment plan to turn the retailer around was “firmly on track” despite posting a slump in trading across all of its markets. UK like-for-like sales fell 1.5 per cent in the third quarter to 23 November compared with flat sales in the second quarter and in [...]
Lidl boss eyes 600 new stores December 1, 2013 LIDL’s UK managing director has announced plans to double the discount chain’s number of stores over the coming years. On the growth of Lidl’s 600 current stores Ronny Gottschlich said “If I could have the 1,200 in the next three years, then I would have it in the next three years. But it is clear [...]
Bottom Line: Tesco results to show the rise of discounters December 1, 2013 TAKE note, Tesco. Britain’s biggest supermarket, which is expected to post a drop in like-for-like sales of around 1.5 per cent on Wednesday, has been caught napping by Lidl and its discount peers in recent months. Tesco has rolled out extra price cuts and special offers as it tries to win back the market share [...]
Analysts spread gloom ahead of Tesco numbers November 26, 2013 TESCO received an unwelcome early Christmas message from City analysts yesterday, as predictions of a further decline in third quarter like-for-like sales sent its shares down 2.5 per cent. Barclays predicted yesterday that the UK’s largest supermarket will report a 1.8 per cent fall in UK like-for-like sales next week compared with flat sales in [...]
Foreign buyers hungry for UK food takeovers November 24, 2013 THE WIDENING gap between discounters and upmarket retailers and a heightened focus on provenance following the horsemeat scandal is driving takeovers of British food brands, new research shows. The number of British heritage and independent brands being snapped up by domestic and overseas buyers is now at the highest level since 2006, according to a [...]
Britain’s four leading supermarkets lose share to discounters November 19, 2013 BRITAIN’S big four supermarkets have all lost market share for the first time on record while discount retailer Aldi claimed another record share, new data shows. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons saw their sales growth dip below the market average of 3.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 10 November, Kantar Worldpanel said yesterday. [...]
Asda promises to invest £1bn in lower prices November 14, 2013 ASDA pledged yesterday to invest £1bn in lowering prices of some of its products over the next five years and expand its UK presence, as the supermarket reported a slowdown in third quarter sales. The Walmart-owned group, which is vying with Sainsbury’s to be the UK’s second largest supermarket, said the move will help it [...]
Online mogul’s social net worth November 5, 2013 MARK Zuckerberg, founder of internet giant Facebook, managed to both be the youngest billionaire, and the one that added the most to their fortune this year, according to Bloomberg Markets. Zuckerberg, who is still not quite 30 years old, doubled his fortune this year, up to $23.6bn (£14.71bn) from the beginning of January to the [...]
Rothschild to advise on Poundland’s flotation November 4, 2013 BUDGET retailer Poundland has lined up Rothschild to advise on its upcoming public offering, which is expected to value the firm at more than £700m. The investment bank, which declined to comment on the issue, is expected to bring in other advisers to work on the flotation in the next few weeks. Poundland – which [...]