Top shareholder Old Mutual backs Sainsbury’s bid for Home Retail Group February 3, 2016 One of Home Retail Group's top shareholders has publicly backed Sainsbury's £1.3bn cash and shares offer for the Argos-owner, despite previously calling for a bid of at least 200p per share. Old Mutual, which owns a 3.6 per cent stake in Home Retail, making it the retailer's third largest shareholder, said it regards the latest offer by Sainsbury's [...]
How Argos will help Sainsbury’s rival Amazon after Home Retail Group deal February 2, 2016 Sainsbury’s purchase of Home Retail Group has been everywhere, but only half the story is being told. Arguably the most important half of the picture is what’s being missed. The real impact will not be solely in-store, but the online, logistical and fulfilment capabilities it unlocks for Sainsbury’s. It could well be what drags the [...]
Sainsbury’s share price rises as it paves the way for Argos takeover with £1.3bn bid for Home Retail Group – and HRG board is backing the deal February 2, 2016 Sainsbury's has made an 11th hour offer for Home Retail Group, upping its bid to a total of £1.3bn. Under the terms of the deal, Home Retail Group investors will received 0.321 Sainsbury's shares and 55p in cash per share. They will also receive around 25p per share and a further 2.8p instead of the dividend due to [...]
Sainsbury’s set for £1.3bn Argos deal: Supermarket and Home Retail Group could announce agreement today February 1, 2016 Sainsbury's is close to clinching a £1.3bn deal to buy Home Retail Group after improving its offer ahead of today’s deadline. The supermarket chain made an initial bid of around £1bn for the Argos owner in November, saying a combination of the two businesses would create a retail empire to rival John Lewis and Amazon. [...]
Argos chief operating officer David Robinson jumps ship to Conviviality Retail January 26, 2016 Argos chief operating officer David Robinson has jumped ship, joining Bargain Booze and Wine Rack group Conviviality Retail. Robinson will join the off licence business, which recently acquired wholesaler and distributor Matthew Clark, as managing director. His start date has not yet been confirmed. During his time at Home Retail Group, where he currently sits on the [...]
High street retailers steal share of physical entertainment market from Amazon January 25, 2016 Sales of physical DVDs, CDs and video games may be dropping but bricks and mortar stores are still holding their own after taking market share from the likes of Amazon in the quarter. According to Kantar Worldpanel figures, high street retailers took 68 per cent of spend on physical entertainment in the 12 weeks to 20 [...]
Darkhorse Stratford restaurant review: more nag than stallion January 20, 2016 I'm calling January 2016 as the moment the restaurant template that's dominated London for the last five years finally jumped the shark. Far too many new openings appear to have been cobbled together, Inception-style, from my memories of other restaurants, from the interior design to the locally sourced, modern European menus. There's a cynicism to the uniformity. It's a formula that [...]
UK house prices: Though it’s currently the economic golden child, Milton Keynes needs to shake off its brand image to become hot property January 19, 2016 Despite being one of the most confusing and maligned cities in the UK, Milton Keynes is managing to outpace London in terms of economic growth, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). With good transport links, a booming property market, and massive employers like Argos and Red Bull based there, on paper this makes sense. But, let’s [...]
Home Retail Group share price soars on announcing it will return £200m to shareholders with Wesfarmers to buy Homebase for £340m January 18, 2016 Home Retail Group has announced it will be returning £200m to shareholders, following the sale of its Homebase chain to one of Australia’s biggest listed companies. The British retail group has confirmed reports it will sell the DIY chain to Australian Wesfarmers for £340m. Wesfarmers, which already owns DIY supplier Bunnings, said it will spend another £242m [...]
The count is in: These are the retail winners and losers for Christmas 2015 (according to Hargreaves Lansdown) January 15, 2016 After a busy few days chock-full of Christmas retail results, we're finally beginning to get a sense of who the winners and losers of 2015's festive period might be. Yesterday, Tesco surprised investors with better-than-expected results, rounding off a solid performance among the UK's traditional supermarket sector – although Asda is still yet to report. Marks & [...]