Tesco share price is falling after sales plummeted again June 4, 2014 Another set of falling sales figures from Tesco this morning. The UK supermarket giant has reported a 3.7 per cent drop in like-for-like sales – 3.8 per cent when including petrol. That does mark the store’s third drop in a row but is, however, better than the four per cent decline analysts were expecting. Revenues [...]
Bottom Line: New players have a better chance than most May 22, 2014 IT’S A tough one to call. At the same moment that Fat Face officially pulled its market listing, four other companies filed upbeat intentions to float – each convinced that they had the perfect formula that would have investors running for the shares. Despite the fickle market, some of them might actually be right. Zoopla has [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 22 May 2014 May 21, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Monte dei Paschi to give state €4bn Shareholders of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Italy’s third-largest bank by assets, have given the go ahead to a €5bn (£4.05bn) capital raising in a step that effectively lifts the threat of nationalisation from the bank. In a turbulent meeting, Monte Paschi shareholders voted overwhelmingly to [...]
Bottom Line: Discount retailers keep surging whatever the economic weather May 11, 2014 IT’S NOT exactly a dramatic rebirth but there are some stirrings of spring in these figures. Unsurprisingly, particularly at a time of year when the national imagination turns to home improvement, UK consumers invested even more this April in their fastest-appreciating assets than they did 12 months before, with DIY spending up 11.9 per cent [...]
How Britain can nurture the next generation of super-entrepreneurs April 27, 2014 THOMAS Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century is setting the bestseller charts alight in a way that economics tomes usually cannot. For those insistent upon the importance of economic equality, it is the most anticipated release since Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson’s The Spirit Level. But is the accumulation of wealth inherently bad? In research [...]
City & Gild: How Tesco can make us fall back in love with its brand April 17, 2014 Tesco’s current strategy worries me enormously, especially off the back of a six per cent fall in profits. Chief executive Philip Clarke has confidently explained, “Tesco will be firmly established as a middle-market retailer, which offers low prices and good quality – all under one roof”. My translation of this is essentially, “we’re going to [...]
More price cuts in store as profit slides at Tesco April 16, 2014 TESCO boss Philip Clarke said yesterday he had no intention of leaving as the supermarket giant posted a second year of falling profits and revealed large writedowns across its international businesses. Dismissing reports that he was under pressure from investors to step down, Clarke said: “I have got no intention of going anywhere. All my [...]
Tesco’s 2013 pre-tax profit drops to £3.05bn April 16, 2014 Tesco, the world's third-largest supermarket, has announced a 6.9 per cent drop in full-year underlying profit before tax, to £3.05bn. Over the next three years, it's hoping to stake a claim as the multichannel, middle-market store. But the question is how easy that'll be in a climate of booming discounters and high-end stores, where consumers [...]
Big four grocers all lose ground to discounters April 9, 2014 BRITAIN’S four biggest supermarket groups all lost market share over the last three months to German discounters Aldi and Lidl, with Sainsbury’s suffering the biggest drop in market share in ten years. Sainsbury’s has until this month been the only one of the big four to resist the pressure of the discounters and hold onto [...]
Brand Index: Cheaper supermarket brands are outflanking Morrisons April 8, 2014 GERMAN discounters Aldi and Lidl continue to expand their reach in the UK at the expense of the so-called “big four” chains, with Aldi increasing its market share by more than a third. Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have all experienced a decline in sales, though Asda has proved the most resilient and Morrisons has [...]