Sainsbury’s merger talks mark end of supermarket big four Retail It is approaching a decade since Mike Coupe, then Sainsbury’s boss, was caught on a hot mic singing “we’re in the money” as his supermarket announced its impending takeover of rival grocer Asda. He was forced to apologise for the outburst, which was caught on camera while he waited to be interviewed by ITV News. “This [...]
Could an exit from Europe bolster Tesco’s UK dominance? Retail Like a student nearing the end of their gap year, Tesco has careened across Europe, Asia, even the United States, and is now preparing to return home and settle down. The supermarket chain, the UK’s largest, is weighing up whether to offload its operations in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with grocery rival Lidl [...]
Sainsbury’s and Morrisons held talks over blockbuster merger Retail Sainsbury’s walked away from talks over a merger with smaller rival Morrisons earlier this year, shelving what would have been the biggest shake-up of the UK’s grocery market in decades. The UK’s second-largest supermarket chain held preliminary talks with its private-equity-owned rival over a merger of the two firms between November 2025 and February this [...]
Aldi debt jumps by £100m as profit slips at discount grocer October 2, 2026 Aldi took on more than £100m in net debt last year, as the discount grocer’s profit slipped despite its blockbuster expansion plans. The supermarket chain, the UK’s fourth largest, saw its net debt grow by a fifth in 2025, from £717m to £862m. Aldi’s jump in debt comes despite the grocer’s plans to expand rapidly [...]
MCO (MyComplianceOffice) Announces Strategic Growth Financing from Accel-KKR Credit Partners September 23, 2026 Transformative $100M+ financing will accelerate MCO's product and AI innovation and market expansion.
Every Lidl helps: German grocer’s owner poised to snap up Tesco stores September 23, 2026 The owners of Lidl are among the front runners to snap up dozens of Tesco stores as the British supermarket chain seeks to offload some of its biggest subsidiaries. Schwarz Group is expected to submit an offer for Tesco’s Czech and Slovakian businesses, according to the Financial Times, after the FTSE 100 firm said it [...]
Morrisons sales rise as debt-ridden grocer cuts costs September 16, 2026 Morrisons has toasted faster sales growth as the private-equity-owned grocer nears £1bn in savings as it races to trim its huge debt pile. The grocer saw like-for-like sales jump by 3.2 per cent to £1.4bn in the three months to the end of July, as its chief executive attributed this “stronger sales momentum” to the [...]
DNA Payments Partners With iwoca to Deliver New Funding Options That Empower UK SME Growth September 9, 2026 DNA Payments, one of the UK’s largest independent payment companies, has expanded its merchant funding offering through a new partnership with one of Europe’s largest SME lenders, iwoca. Through this partnership, DNA Payments’ clients can now easily apply for an iwoca Flexi Loan of between £1,000 and £1 million, directly from their Merchant Portal and [...]
Next dodges ‘hammer blow’ with equal pay court victory September 7, 2026 Retail giant Next has won an equal pay appeal allowing it to pay warehouse workers more than shop-floor staff, warning that its defeat “would have represented a hammer blow to retail employment in the UK”. The FTSE 100 retailer told shareholders on Monday that it was justified in paying its warehouse operatives a higher rate [...]
Retailers urge Healey to unwind national insurance hike to boost jobs September 3, 2026 Retailers have called on Chancellor John Healey to unwind some of the national insurance reforms made by his predecessor in a bid to tackle the youth joblessness crisis. The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer, has written to the Chancellor, urging him to unwind “soaring employment costs”. [...]