Price war sees petrol tumble July 3, 2011 PETROL prices fell by over two pence per litre last week, according to data seen by City A.M. A combination of supermarket price wars and a sharp fall in the global price of oil saw the average price of unleaded drop from over 136p per litre to 133.82p. Diesel declined from almost 140p per litre [...]
Supermarket giants signal woe June 28, 2011 Two bulwarks of the retail sector, Asda and Sainsbury, painted a bleak picture of the UK retail economy yesterday. Consumers are in recession, Asda’s chief financial officer told a conference. “Do I expect it to improve any time soon? No, I do not,” said Judith McKenna. Her views were echoed by Sainsbury finance director John [...]
Asda joins the petrol price war June 27, 2011 ASDA yesterday cut its fuel price for the second time in a week, sparking talks of a war at the pumps. The supermarket cut 2p from the cost of a litre of petrol, taking it down to 128.7p and 132.7p for diesel. Sainsbury’s quickly matched the cut, taking 2p a litre off from last night. [...]
Andy Hornby eyed for Coral June 26, 2011 ANDY Hornby, the former chief executive of Alliance Boots, has been named as a frontrunner for the top job at Coral, the bookmaker. Hornby, 44, stood down from Alliance Boots, owner of the high street chemist, in March, after saying he needed “a few months’ break”. However, according to weekend reports, he is tipped to [...]
Survey reveals stagnation on the high street June 23, 2011 RETAIL sales stagnated in June, knocking hopes for growth on the British high street. Annualised sales failed to grow for the first time in a year, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) revealed yesterday. While a third of retailers reported higher sales than the same time last year, 34 per cent said that sales were [...]
Asda loses market share as Lidl and Aldi shore up their position June 21, 2011 ASDA’S share of the UK grocery market fell from 16.7 per cent to 16.3 per cent in the 12 weeks to 13 June, according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel. The figures show that the Wal-Mart-owned chain is now only marginally ahead of Sainsbury’s, which held its share steady at 16.2 per cent. Discount stores Aldi [...]
Wal-Mart sex case fails June 20, 2011 SUPERMARKET giant Wal-Mart yesterday won a case to dismiss a massive class-action sex discrimination lawsuit, after the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled in its favour. The court said more than 1m female Wal-Mart employees from across the US could not proceed in their multi-billion dollar case, which accused the grocer, which owns Asda, of paying [...]
Asda exec King in shock exit June 20, 2011 Chief operating officer at supermarket giant Asda, Simon King, has quit after only six months. King joined Asda on 10 January this year, moving from Saudi Arabia where he was chief executive of supermarket operator Panda Retail, a subsidiary of The Savola Group. Prior to that he was chief executive of Tesco Kipa in Turkey, [...]
Iceland profits reach record high June 10, 2011 Frozen food giant Iceland’s profit soared by almost 15 per cent in the past year as cash-strapped shoppers felt the pressure from rising food prices, it reported. Net profit before tax rose 14.8 per cent to £155.5m in the year ending March 2011, compared with £135.4m in 2010, in what Iceland described as a record [...]
New chairman Leighton signals change of Pace May 31, 2011 ALLAN Leighton, who was confirmed as the successor to Mike McTighe at the struggling TV set-top box maker Pace yesterday, is planning to launch a strategic review of the Yorkshire-based company. Leighton, who has led the boards of the Post Office and supermarket chain ASDA, said: “I’ve watched the Pace business develop with both its [...]