Tesco suffers worst decline in grocery sector October 21, 2014 TESCO emerged as the biggest loser in the grocery sector over the past three months, despite sales showing signs of recovery, as the supermarket price war and fierce competition continued to take its toll on the troubled retailer. The company, which stunned the City last month with revelations of a £250m black hole in its [...]
Tesco share price rises as declines in its market share slows, while Waitrose reaches record high October 21, 2014 Tesco shares rose 2.2 percent in mid-morning trading after new figures showed while it has lost yet more market share, its rate of decline is slowing. while Waitrose has climbed to a record high, doing just enough to keep it ahead of German challengers Aldi and Lidl. The figures, by Kantar Worldpanel, also showed [...]
UK consumers’ confidence at a three-year high October 20, 2014 A HEALTHY jobs market has pushed consumer confidence to a three-year high, according to figures released this morning by the accountancy firm Deloitte. The Deloitte consumer tracker shows the net balance (the percentage of people saying “yes” minus those saying “no”) of respondents whose confidence had increased over the last three months rising to minus [...]
Moody’s thinks Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons’ profit margins will continue shrinking October 17, 2014 Profit margins at the so-called “big four” supermarkets will shrink even further than they have already as they fight a losing battle against discounters, according to rating agency Moody's. "Further price cuts could be particularly credit negative for Tesco and Morrison as their cost-cutting and efficiency measures are unlikely to fully offset the negative impact [...]
Falling Brent crude oil and prices at the pump delay interest rate hike October 13, 2014 Tumbling oil prices on world markets are expected to pull British petrol prices down even further in the coming weeks, with economists pushing back their predictions for when interest rates will finally rise. Brent oil prices plummeted more than $2 a barrel during yesterday’s trading, touching their lowest levels since 2010. At around $88 per [...]
Angela Spindler: It’s been a year of heavy lifting October 9, 2014 “It has been a year of heavy lifting,” N Brown’s chief executive Angela Spindler explained yesterday as she sought to allay fears over the retailer’s shock profit warning. Since joining N Brown in July last year, the former Asda director and Original Factory Shop boss has been busy hauling the business into the digital age [...]
Sainsburys, Asda, House of Fraser, Shop Direct and 15 more businesses will let customers pay via mobile with Zapp October 8, 2014 Sainsbury’s, Asda and House of Fraser are just some of the country’s biggest shops that will soon let customers pay for items using just a mobile phone via Zapp. The mobile technology, already supported in the apps of UK banks such as HSBC, Nationwide and Santander, will be supported by more than 15 high street [...]
Tesco share price rises as Richard Cousins and Mikael Ohlsson join board October 6, 2014 Tesco brought some relief to its unhappy investors yesterday after announcing that it had beefed up its board by hiring the chief executive of catering giant Compass and the former boss of Ikea. The embattled retailer said Richard Cousins, a turnaround specialist who had led Compass since 2006, and Mikael Ohlsson, who was chief [...]
UK supermarkets vs German discounters: Morrisons gets tough as Buffett attacks Tesco October 2, 2014 Britain’s embattled supermarkets have finally begun their fight back against German discounters Aldi and Lidl who have been eating their lunch in recent months with double-digit growth in the sector. Morrison, the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket, will launch its first customer loyalty card today, along with a price-matching scheme that its chief executive has labelled [...]
Best of the Brokers for 03 October 2014 October 2, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com SAINSBURY Nomura has maintained its “neutral” rating, but cut the target price to 270p from 305p. Nomura remains of the theory that Sainsbury is seeing some relative slowdown, and may now be an underperformer compared to sector rivals, as Asda strengthens and Morrison [...]