Supermarkets kick off petrol price drop wars May 15, 2012 TWO of the UK’s top four supermarkets have said they will cut fuel prices from today, passing on savings to customers as the cost of wholesale oil continues to fall. Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – the third and fourth biggest supermarkets by market share respectively – both confirmed yesterday they will cut petrol prices by up [...]
Morrisons sales dip in tough market May 3, 2012 Morrisons posted a fall in underlying sales in its first quarter, reflecting tough comparatives with a bumper period of trading last year and customers switching to rivals who are promoting more heavily. The supermarket chain, which trails market leader Tesco, Wal-Mart’s Asda and J Sainsbury in UK market share, said on sales at stores open [...]
Waitrose and budget stores winning sales April 24, 2012 UK CONSUMER habits are becoming increasingly divided, accordingly to new retail data that shows higher-end and budget retailers growing market share while those occupying the middle ground lose out. Kantar Worldpanel figures for the 12 weeks to 15 April 2012 showed upmarket supermarket Waitrose increasing market share from 4.3 per cent to 4.5 per cent [...]
Clarke will need more than £1bn to reverse curse of complacent incumbency April 18, 2012 LET’S keep things in perspective here. Tesco isn’t exactly struggling, although you wouldn’t know it from the bad publicity that has plagued it since a profit warning in January. Group profit of £3.83bn was up by five per cent last year on revenues that were seven per cent higher at £72bn. A distressed retailer this [...]
Tesco sheds its value stripes in UK rebranding April 4, 2012 TESCO has scrapped its blue-and- white striped Tesco Value range of products in favour of a new updated brand, as chief executive Philip Clarke continues to shake up the business in an attempt to revive UK sales. The Everyday Value range, made up of 550 products, will feature more colourful and “softer” packaging compared with [...]
Rio Tinto decides that diamond mines are not forever March 27, 2012 DEMAND for diamonds is booming. Tiffany, the luxury jeweller that is famous for using the precious stones in its pieces, earlier this month said its worldwide sales jumped 15 per cent in 2011 and warned that supplies were struggling to keep up. Gem Diamonds, which counts Tiffany as one of its biggest clients, reported a [...]
Tesco continues to shed market share as Asda hits record high March 27, 2012 TESCO has continued to shed market share in the first three months of 2012, latest figures showed yesterday, while number two supermarket Asda has seen its slice of the pie jump to a record high. According to Kantar data released yesterday, Tesco’s year-on-year growth lagged behind the rest of the sector at just 2.7 per [...]
ADVISERS: ROTHSCHILD March 26, 2012 ROTHSCHILD acted as the financial advisor to The Garden Centre Group and to lender Lloyds Banking Group. Majid Ishaq, a London-based managing director at Rothschild, led the team. Ishaq told City A.M. that Garden Centre was attractive because of its mid-market position and its middle class customer base. The chain owns about 70 per cent [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW HAS THE RETAILER FARED COMPARED TO RIVALS? March 21, 2012 CLIVE BLACK | SHORE CAPITAL Sainsbury has delivered what can only be considered a very sound and resilient performance against the backdrop of demonstrably challenging times. Indeed, the group deserves credit for the sales momentum delivered in the fourth quarter and in the face of some deep fuel related discounts by competitors. RICHARD HUNTER | [...]
Sainsbury’s sales and market share rise March 21, 2012 J Sainsbury, Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group, beat forecasts for fourth quarter sales growth as it won market share from rivals. “We continue to outperform the market and gain market share,” said chief executive Justin King. He said although the economic climate was likely to remain challenging Britain’s roster of summer events, including celebrations to mark [...]