Competition watchdog kills Sainsbury’s £7.3bn Asda merger: What went wrong? April 25, 2019 Almost a year to the day since Sainsbury’s first revealed that it was in merger talks with Asda, it has all come crashing down. In late April 2018 the two retail giants were losing market share to German discounters Aldi and Lidl, and the threat of Amazon moving into the grocery sector was very real. [...]
Competition regulator blocks Sainsbury’s-Asda merger April 25, 2019 A planned tie-up between supermarket giants Sainsbury’s and Asda suffered a final blow from the UK’s competition watchdog, which said this morning that "it has decided to prohibit the merger in its entirety". Read more: Watchdog may block Sainsbury's-Asda merger Sainsbury’s, Walmart and Asda revealed today that they have mutually agreed to terminate the merger plans [...]
Which consumer survey reveals UK’s worst mobile network providers April 23, 2019 Vodafone has been ranked the UK’s worst mobile operator as big-name providers continue to lag behind their smaller rivals. Vodafone was rated the worst network, while O2 and EE completed the bottom three, according to the latest survey from consumer group Which. Read more: Vodafone broadband advert banned by watchdog for misleading consumers Virtual network [...]
British Land offloads Sainsbury’s superstores for £429m to cut retail exposure April 23, 2019 British Land has sold a swathe of Sainsbury’s superstores for £429m as it ploughs ahead with a plan to reduce its exposure to retail property. Read more: British Land swings to £42m loss as retail market hits portfolio value The FTSE 100 landlord revealed this morning that it is selling 12 superstores from its joint [...]
Asda under fire over new employee proposals April 16, 2019 Supermarket giant Asda has been accused of using a proposed pay rise as a "smokescreen" for unpaid breaks and shortened night shifts. The grocery firm recently announced a set of potential contract changes for its workforce, pledging to hike the basic hourly rate of pay for retail employees. Read more: Asda and Sainsbury's propose selling 150 [...]
Tesco and Dunelm defy retail gloom April 16, 2019 By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. Impressive updates from Tesco and Dunelm show opportunities still exist in the embattled retail sector. A big hike in the Tesco (LSE:TSCO) dividend and an “incredible” trading update from Dunelm Group (LSE:DNLM) today combined to remind Brexit-weary investors there is life in the retail sector after all. The near-doubling [...]
Tesco turnaround marks the milestone for Drastic Dave April 10, 2019 In the never-ending debate about executive pay, examples of failure are cited more frequently than cases of good value for money. Recently the likes of WPP, Persimmon and Ted Baker have all demonstrated how the actions of the top boss can dent the fortunes of a company and frustrate shareholders. But despairing investors now have [...]
Tesco doubles dividend as profits surge 30 per cent after turnaround success April 10, 2019 Tesco boosted profits by almost 30 per cent in 2018 as it beat expectations, leading the supermarket to almost double its dividend as its chief executive revealed the supermarket has met the “vast majority” of its turnaround goals since its 2014 accounting scandal. The figures Pre-tax profits rose 28.8 per cent year on year to [...]
Lloyds Bank stars as FTSE 100 rockets in Q1 April 9, 2019 By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. After a great first quarter for stock markets, we assess the best and worst blue-chips of 2019 so far. It’s been a storming start to 2019 for the FTSE 100 index, with popular interactive investor stocks including Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY), Next (LSE:NXT) and Tesco (LSE:TSCO) among those on [...]
Discounter Aldi ramps up market share as Easter approaches April 2, 2019 Cut-price supermarket Aldi continued its rise up the grocery food chain in March, achieving a record market share of eight per cent as it made ground on its rivals. The German-owned chain’s sales increased by 10.6 per cent in the 12 months to 24 March compared to a year earlier, pushing its market share up [...]