Cost of weekly supermarket shop drops for fourth month in a row to hit lowest level in over a year April 4, 2016 The cost of the average weekly grocery shop has fallen for the fourth month in a row to reach its lowest level in over a year, data released today shows. Research by price comparison site MySupermarket found that a basket of 35 staple products across the major grocers cost £84.36 in March, down 3.8 per [...]
Home Retail Group and Sainsbury’s share prices both fall after Argos parent tells shareholders to back the final bid April 1, 2016 Good news for all those who like it when a couple get together: The directors of Home Retail Group have told shareholders they unanimously recommend its acquisition by Sainsbury's. That means the final offer for the Argos parent company – confirmed a fortnight ago after rival bidder Steinhoff backed away – will be put to the shareholders for [...]
City Moves for 1 April 2016 | Who’s switching jobs April 1, 2016 Squire Patton Boggs Squire Patton Boggs has announced that Andrew Herring has been appointed partner in the London office. Andrew, a well-known rail and transportation sector lawyer, will join the firm’s real estate practice, working with the global infrastructure and construction groups. He joins from DWF. He specialises in advising public and private sector clients [...]
Sainsbury’s confirms bid for Argos parent Home Retail Group as Steinhoff walks away to buy Darty March 18, 2016 Sainsbury’s has confirmed a final offer for Home Retail Group, which will value the parent of Argos at £1.4bn, after rival suitor Steinhoff backed away this afternoon. The supermarket’s bid is a combined shares and cash offer, of 0.321 new Sainsbury’s shares per HRG share and 55p a share in cash. In addition, shareholders will receive [...]
Break-up a bitter pill for Witty not GlaxoSmithKline, Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe’s dealmaking and Smith & Williamson’s owners consider a sale March 18, 2016 If Sir Andrew Witty is casting around for an epithet to sum up his tenure at GlaxoSmithKline, it would probably be: breaking up is hard to do. Yesterday’s announcement that he will retire in 2017 was the City’s worst-kept secret, but it affords GSK the opportunity to contemplate the sort of radical change that tends [...]
Home Retail Group bid could be extended if either Sainsbury’s or Steinhoff makes another offer for Argos parent March 17, 2016 Time is running out for Sainsbury's to make another bid for Argos parent Home Retail Group – but the Takeover Panel has given both the supermarket and rival suitor Steinhoff a lifeline of sorts. The two businesses have until 5pm tomorrow to make a "firm intention" of an offer or walk away from the deal. [...]
Sainsbury’s share price falls despite posting a sales rise in the fourth quarter as deadline looms for Argos bid March 15, 2016 Sainsbury's is continuing to prove itself the strongest of the big four supermarkets, with total and like-for-like sales up in the fourth quarter as it moves to phase out multi-buy offers entirely. But the business has warned of ongoing challenges in the market as the price wars continue. The figures Total retail sales excluding fuel [...]
Ultimate Products eyes sale or IPO and mandates Shore Capital March 15, 2016 The owners of Ultimate Products, which has the licence to sell Russell Hobbs products to retailers, has hired City advisers Shore Capital to explore a potential sale or IPO of the business. The Manchester-based firm could fetch between £50m and £60m, according to people familiar with the situation. Shore Capital has been asked to explore all [...]
Home Retail Group posts “significantly stronger” cash flow as time ticks on in Sainsbury’s vs Steinhoff bid for Argos March 10, 2016 Home Retail Group has revealed much higher cash flow levels and signs of improvement at Argos – the centre of a bidding war between Sainsbury's and Steinhoff. The figures Argos' like-for-likes dropped 2.6 per cent in the year to 27 February, to £4.1bn, as the retailer sustained second half declines of two per cent. Margins fell [...]
Aldi, Ocado, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s are all making moves to win market share, but Asda’s next step is unclear March 9, 2016 The latest supermarket sales data has painted a slightly less gloomy picture than has become customary for Britain's big four grocers, hinting that the billions poured into lowering prices and luring back customers might finally be paying off. Despite a brutal price war that has savaged Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, data from Kantar has shown [...]