UK farmers plan London march after world commodity crisis slashes incomes February 2, 2016 British farmers are reacting to the world commodity crisis in an unusual way – by planning a march on London. Lobby group Farmers For Action has received thousands of pledges of support for a demonstration on Wednesday 23 March. Coachloads of countryfolk will descend on London to highlight the sharp drop in food producers’ incomes over [...]
Bye-bye BOGOF? Tesco finally winds down promotions in favour of simpler pricing strategy February 2, 2016 Tesco is winding down its focus on promotions such as the famous BOGOF – buy one get one free offers – instead offering customers clearer prices in the long term. It's the latest supermarket to follow in the footsteps of discounters Aldi and Lidl with low prices overall rather than deals which have been criticised as [...]
Ocado share price jumps as it makes its second-ever profit – and says it is “confident” of signing a big deal February 2, 2016 Ocado has reported its second-ever pre-tax profit, which jumped 65 per cent in the year to the end of November. And the company was dropped a couple of hints which could relate to those rumours of a tie-up with a certain giant ecommerce site… The figures In a statement today, Ocado said gross retail sales rose to £1.1bn in 2015, up 14.7 per [...]
Morrisons adds fuel to the supermarket price war with another round of price cuts January 31, 2016 Morrisons has added fuel to the price war after announcing a further round of cuts in an effort to win back customers and revive sales. The Yorkshire-based supermarket said it will slash the price of 1,072 items, with an average price cut of 19 per cent on fruit and vegetables. The price of a kilo of Morrisons onions, for example, [...]
How Tyrrells aims to be the big cheese (and onion) of the crisp world January 28, 2016 Six years ago, David Milner received a phone call from private equity firm Langholm Partners, the former owners of Tyrrells Crisps. They needed help. After an eight-year growth spurt, sales at the posh crisp brand had turned rather stale and Langholm wanted the former Mars and Campbell’s Soup executive on board. “The first thing I [...]
Former Morrisons exec Norman Pickavance to lead retail taskforce to solve low pay and productivity issues January 28, 2016 How do you solve the UK's productivity puzzle? Well, the retail sector is hoping that a former Morrisons exec and adviser to Ed Miliband might be able to at least help out that industry. Ahead of the introduction of the new Living Wage, due to come into force in April, a new taskforce has been established to investigate [...]
Tesco to drop diesel prices further to 97.7p from today January 22, 2016 Tesco has said it will drop its diesel prices even further, committing to lowering the price of the fuel to 97.7p at all of its 500 filling stations from midday today. The supermarket was one of many to bring the price of diesel below £1 at the start of the year, alongside Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons, [...]
FTSE 100 opens higher despite weak Chinese economic data as miners including Anglo America, Glencore and BHP Billiton rally January 19, 2016 The FTSE 100 index opened higher today despite data from China that showed its economy growing at its slowest rate in 25 years. The UK's blue-chip index opened 1.64 per cent up at 5,872 points, led higher by miners. Yesterday markets were weighed down by "continued risk aversion and weakness in oil prices, as concerns grow over further deflationary forces rippling [...]
From retail mania and the Tube strike to oil prices and the Chinese economy: Here’s what got us talking this week January 15, 2016 We all got invited to a very special birthday party, while someone else got an early birthday present. Meanwhile, the details of Boris Johnson's Iraq antics were leaked. Oh no, BoJo. Here's what got us talking this week 1) Ground control to major Tim The world mourned as we digested the news that David Bowie had died [...]
The count is in: These are the retail winners and losers for Christmas 2015 (according to Hargreaves Lansdown) January 15, 2016 After a busy few days chock-full of Christmas retail results, we're finally beginning to get a sense of who the winners and losers of 2015's festive period might be. Yesterday, Tesco surprised investors with better-than-expected results, rounding off a solid performance among the UK's traditional supermarket sector – although Asda is still yet to report. Marks & [...]