Retail guru Davies to revive high street with GIVe stores September 13, 2009 RETAIL veteran George Davies is set to open the doors to his new stand alone shopping venture, GIVe, this Autumn. Davies, the founder of high street fashion store Next, Marks and Spencer’s womenswear range Per Una and Asda’s George clothing line has ploughed £20m of his own money into the chain. The much-hyped launch comes [...]
Marks & Spencer promotes Dixon to the board fuelling Rose succession talk September 9, 2009 MARKS & Spencer (M&S) has promoted its head of food, John Dixon, to its executive board, strengthening his chance of succeeding Stuart Rose as chief executive next year. M&S has always said it would prefer an internal candidate to succeed Rose, and signs of recovery at the group’s upmarket food business in recent months have [...]
Tesco’s rivals eat into its market share August 18, 2009 TESCO, the UK’s biggest retailer, is continuing to lose market share, according to new figures, despite relaunching its Clubcard. The supermarket recently beefed up its loyalty card scheme, offering shoppers two points for every £1 spent, as opposed to just one. It had hoped the tactics would stop customers shopping at rivals like Asda and [...]
Budget goods boost Asda’s market share August 13, 2009 WAL-MART owned Asda yesterday said it was stealing market share from other supermarkets as customers shopped around for low prices during the downturn. Asda said over three months to 31 July it had grown its market share of the grocery sector to 17 per cent, up from 16.7 per cent the quarter before. Tesco continues [...]
HEADHUNT IS ON FOR DISGRACED EX-BANKERS August 10, 2009 SOME in the City might be surprised by Sir Fred Goodwin’s decision to re-enter the business world, as revealed on the front page of City A.M. today, but it seems headhunters will be rubbing their hands with glee. Take former HBOS chief Andy Hornby, who was also strung up by the public for his role [...]
Waitrose flexes its muscle in John Lewis online tie-up deal August 2, 2009 WAITROSE, the upmarket grocer, yesterday announced it plans to sell kitchen and homeware products online in a commercial tie-up with John Lewis, in the hope it can pinch market share from rival retailers. Under the deal Waitrose will sell thousands of its own and John Lewis’s products online from 4 August, placing more pressure on [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 29, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES CATTLES’ NON-EXECS WIN TEPID SUPPORTLong-suffering investors in cattles, whose shares have been suspended since April, protested yesterday against the re-election of two non-executive directors at the subprime lender’s annual meeting. About a tenth of investors voted against the re-election of David Haxby, senior independent director who has been with the board since 1999, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 28, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES FINES CALL FOR AIRBUS AND EADS EXECUTIVESSeven current and former executives of Airbus and its parent company EADS, including Noel Forgeard, former EADS co-chief executive, should be fined for alleged insider share dealing offences according to a provisional report prepared for the French financial markets regulator. The 381-page report has recommended a total [...]
Jobless rise hits retailers July 28, 2009 RETAIL sales fell faster than expected in July as consumers tightened their belts in the face of rising unemployment, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said yesterday. The CBI’s monthly distributive trades survey sales balance was -15 per cent this month, an improvement on -17 per cent in June, but worse than the -12 per [...]
COMEBACK KID July 21, 2009 SHARES in WM Morrison made spectacular gains yesterday after the supermarket said it would beat profit forecasts. The announcement, which coincided with research showing that it is grabbing market share from rivals, confirmed Morrisons’ new status as the City’s favourite retail stock. Morrisons grew by 9.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to 12 July [...]