Asda takes George brand to middle East January 25, 2012 Asda has signed a franchise deal with a Lebanon-based firm to take its George budget clothing brand to the Middle East. Britain’s second biggest supermarket group behind Tesco said the Azadea Group would open George franchise stores in the Middle East. Last year Asda announced plans to establish a small number of pilot George stores [...]
Asda plans £500m expansion January 23, 2012 ASDA has announced it will create 5,000 new jobs in 2012 by opening 25 new stores and three depots across the UK. Britain’s second largest supermarket chain has earmarked £500m for the investment that will also expand and refurbish 43 of its existing stores. The 25 new shops will add over 600,000 square feet of [...]
Resource stocks lift FTSE as Eurozone closes in on Greece debt deal January 23, 2012 The FTSE 100 started in positive territory this morning — with hopes that Eurozone finance ministers can nail down a final agreement over the festering Greek debt pile on the rise. Banking shares across Europe were buoyed by renewed optimism that Greece can avert a default which would derail the bloc’s efforts to stabilize struggling [...]
Asda to invest over £500m and create 5,000 jobs January 23, 2012 Asda, the British arm of US retailer Wal-Mart Stores has said it it will invest over £500m this year, opening 25 new stores and three depots and creating up to 5,000 jobs. Britain’s second-biggest supermarket group behind Tesco also said it would extend and refurbish 43 existing stores. The 25 new stores will add over [...]
Peacocks and Past Times hit the wall January 16, 2012 PEACOCKS has confirmed it plans to call in administrators after talks with its lenders to restructure £240m of debt collapsed. The board, chaired by former Asda boss Allan Leighton, said it is still in talks with potential investors but had filed its notice of “intention to appoint an administrator” to try and protect the 611-store [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland pulls plug on Peacocks January 15, 2012 PEACOCKS, the fashion retail chain, is teetering on the brink of administration after Royal Bank of Scotland, one of its senior lenders, pulled the plug on talks to refinance the company. A syndicate of 18 lenders, including Barclays, Goldman Sachs and hedge funds including Och Ziff and Perry Capital, had jointly been working on a [...]
Founder Walker moving ahead in race for Iceland January 15, 2012 RISING concerns over competition laws could clear the way for Iceland Foods founder Malcolm Walker to take control of the supermarket once again. Walker, the chief executive, has moved ahead in the race because Iceland is believed to be worried that a deal with another retailer would not be approved by the Competition Commission. Last [...]
TESCO TO BET £500M ON UK FIGHTBACK January 12, 2012 A RATTLED Tesco is set to splash around £500m on revamping its UK store network and recruiting new staff after it stunned the City with its first profit warning in twenty years. Chief executive Philip Clarke is ready to sanction an investment of “hundreds of millions” of pounds in Britain after the supermarket yesterday posted [...]
Tesco’s marketing strategy needs a new broom in 2012 to sweep away its Clubcard January 12, 2012 THESE were bad figures, Tesco can’t get away from that. Britain’s biggest retailer reported its worst Christmas sales performance for decades on Thursday and warned it would see minimal profit growth next year. Down 1.3 per cent like-for-like (including VAT) in the UK was much worse than any other figures we’ve had from the major [...]
Sainsbury’s sales top forecasts January 11, 2012 Grocer J Sainsbury beat Christmas sales forecasts as store extensions and its expansion into convenience outlets, online shopping and non-food ranges helped it weather a tough market. Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group behind Wal-Mart’s Asda and industry leader Tesco said on Wednesday sales at stores open over a year rose 2.1 per cent excluding fuel in [...]