Supermarket till sales down four per cent last month as online shopping and cost of living hit hard April 5, 2022 Supermarket till sales continue to feel the impact of online buying brought about by the pandemic, with a four per cent fall last month. A new study indicates that online sales also fell almost 20 per cent from last year, as the cost of living crisis continues to change consumer habits. The report by NielsenIQ [...]
Asda chair hammers government for ‘tin eared’ response to cost of living crisis April 3, 2022 The government has delivered a “tin-eared and slow” response to the UK’s cost of living crisis, according to the chair of Asda. Tory peer Lord Stuart Rose said chancellor Rishi Sunak should put together a new package to ease the pain of soaring costs for households, adding that “the main problem that the government has [...]
Egg farmers: Supermarkets must raise prices by 40p to avert sector crisis March 31, 2022 Egg farmers have called on supermarkets to up the price of a dozen eggs by 40p as producers face cost pressures. Many free range egg farmers are bleeding cash on every egg laid by one of their hens, according to the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA). Shoppers in the UK were unable to [...]
Ex-Sainsbury’s director to share helm of government Environment Agency March 29, 2022 Environment secretary George Eustice has appointed the former Sainsbury’s director as deputy chair of the government’s Environment Agency. Retail veteran Judith Batchelar will step into the new role at the beginning of April as current deputy chair Richard Macdonald’s term ends. Batchelar, who resigned from Sainsbury’s after 16 years last May, worked in the food [...]
London’s top indexes struggle for direction on tame day in City March 24, 2022 London’s top indexes struggled to squeeze out any gains today on a tame day of trading in the City. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index edged 0.09 per cent higher to 7,467.38 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, fell 0.52 per cent [...]
Lockdown DIYers push B&Q owner Kingfisher past £1bn profit March 22, 2022 Kingfisher’s sales shot up last year as the B&Q owner became the third UK retailer to exceed £1bn profit. The home improvement behemoth joined retail titans Tesco and Marks & Spencer when it revealed its profits had reached record levels on Tuesday. Lockdown DIYers sent sales past £13bn for the year to 31 January, thanks [...]
Best of this week in our opinion pages: from the fintech world to a tax regime to sanction Putin to what social media are doing in the disinformation wars March 19, 2022 As Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove disclosed the Homes for Ukraine scheme to host people fleeing war in Ukraine, Ajaz Ahmed wrote about the countless refugees who have reached British shores and set up incredibly successful businesses, effectively contributing to the growth of this country. Ahmed also called for businesses to step up and do [...]
M&S franchises remaining open in Russia is ‘buttressing Putin’s brutality’, Tory MP says March 18, 2022 Marks and Spencer has been urged to close its stores in Russia by a Conservative MP. Marks and Spencer has been urged to close its stores in Russia by a Conservative MP. The representative for Rutland and Melton, Alicia Kearns, made her comments while hosting four Ukrainian politicians on Thursday. This comes as major international [...]
Our businesses have been built by industrious refugees seeking a new future March 15, 2022 Exactly a hundred and forty years ago, a refugee fled eastern Europe fearing for his life. On arriving in Britain, Michael Marks began selling food from a stall in the Kirkgate Market in Leeds. Two years later, after meeting Thomas Spencer, the pair set up Marks and Spencer. Now it is one of Britain’s most [...]
UK firms welcome Ukranian refugees with offer of 10,000 jobs March 13, 2022 British businesses including Marks & Spencer are calling on government to welcome Ukranian refugees fleeing war in Russia.