Chickens come home to roost for Mike Coupe as Sainsbury-Asda deal dies February 22, 2019 Mike Coupe was a happy chappy back in April. Notably he was caught on camera humming the lyrics to the gold digger's song – 'we're in the money' etc, after announcing a supermarket mega merger like no other. This week however the companies' complete lack of understanding of the Competition and Markets Authority has come [...]
The UK’s best and worst supermarkets: How did Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi and Lidl do? February 22, 2019 The big four supermarket chains have lost ground to budget rivals in a survey of shopper satisfaction, as customers grow increasingly dissatisfied with the the quality of in-house labels. Read more: Watchdog may block Sainsbury's-Asda merger Aldi and Lidl outperformed the big four with customer satisfaction scores of 68 and 66 per cent respectively, according to [...]
Iceland Christmas sales fall despite furore over banned palm oil advert February 20, 2019 Iceland is set to reveal a decline in underlying sales over the festive period after its controversial Christmas advert failed to boost business. A report prepared for bondholders, obtained by the Financial Times, showed underlying sales fell by one per cent in the 16 weeks to 4 January. Read more: Iceland mulls bid for potential [...]
CMA may block Sainsbury’s-Asda merger, finding deal could push up prices and reduce quality February 20, 2019 Sainsbury's suffered a 15 per cent drop in its share price this morning after the grocer's £12bn proposed merger with Asda was thrown into doubt following a swathe of concerns raised by Britain's competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the tie-up could lead to "a substantial lessening of competition at both a national and local [...]
Asda sales growth falters amid competition probe into Sainsbury’s merger February 19, 2019 Asda today reported a slowdown in sales growth in the fourth quarter as it waits for the green light over its planned merger with Sainsbury’s. The supermarket chain, which is owned by US grocery giant Walmart, posted a one per cent rise in like-for-like sales excluding petrol in the three months to the end of [...]
UK bags Europe’s M&A top spot with $247bn of deals in 2018 as TMT mergers grow February 19, 2019 The UK enjoyed the highest value of M&A deals in Europe last year as telecoms and media takeovers spiked. High value purchases like Comcast’s $39bn purchase of Sky pushed mergers involving UK companies to $247bn in 2018, data compiled by law firm Clifford Chance found. Read more: Watchdog delays final report on Sainsbury's-Asda merger Both domestic and [...]
Competition watchdog warns of casework impact in event of no-deal Brexit February 14, 2019 The UK’s competition regulator warned it would have to take “tough decisions” on its casework in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said investigations into markets and price fixing could be impacted if it is forced to take on additional work after the UK leaves the EU. All antitrust [...]
Watchdog delays final report on Sainsbury’s-Asda supermarket merger February 11, 2019 The UK's competition watchdog today extended its probe into the supermarket tie-up between Sainsbury's and Asda by eight weeks. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had decided to delay the publication of its report to give it enough time to “reach a fully reasoned final decision” on the £12bn merger. An inquiry group [...]
Iceland mulls bid for potential Sainsbury’s-Asda store sell-offs February 11, 2019 Frozen foods giant Iceland is mulling a move to snap up supermarket stores that Sainsbury’s and Asda could be forced to offload as part of their proposed tie-up. "We are looking at everything for sure," Iceland's managing director Richard Walker told the FT. "Food retail drives footfall and we are the only supermarket that is [...]
10 shares to generate £10,000 income in 2019 February 11, 2019 Four years ago, we asked how much an individual would need to invest in order to generate an annual income of £10,000 from corporate dividend payments. Rising yields have allowed us to reduce the amount each year and still meet the income objective, but 2018 proved a stiffer test and requires some explaining. First, big [...]