Steve Rowe: Everything you need to know about the man replacing Marc Bolland at Marks & Spencer January 7, 2016 Marc Bolland is out. After months (if not years) of shareholders and analysts calling for him to leave Marks & Spencer, the former Morrisons man is hanging up his hat on 2 April. Bolland is handing over to Steve Rowe, an M&S lifer. But Rowe is relatively unknown to the wider world. Here's what you [...]
Retail therapy: British supermarket giant Sainsbury’s considers second bid for Argos owner Home Retail Group January 5, 2016 Sainsbury's is mulling over a second bid for Home Retail Group after it came clean yesterday about a £1bn unsolicited offer for the Argos and Homebase owner. The supermarket chain said it is “considering its position” after its initial cash and share bid in November was rejected by Home Retail’s board. Home Retail was also reportedly [...]
Tesco, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Asda and Sainsbury’s: What to expect from the supermarket sector’s Christmas results January 5, 2016 Supermarkets were going for broke this Christmas, after a poor year of trading for the likes of Tesco, Morrisons and Asda, with Sainsbury's the only one of the Big Four in growth in the run-up to the festive period. But with challengers Lidl and Aldi stealing market share from the price conscious, while Marks & Spencer and [...]
Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons diesel prices lowered to 99.7p falling under £1 for first time since 2009 amid falling oil prices January 3, 2016 The price of diesel will fall below £1 for the first time since 2009 at all Big Four supermarkets as Tesco and Asda were first to announce the cost of filling up will cost less, bringing a new year gift to motorists across the country. Supermarkets will drop the price per litre to 99.7 pence from Monday, with both [...]
Moody’s slices Noble’s rating to junk as commodity rout deepens December 30, 2015 Moody's downgraded Asia-focused commodities trader Noble to junk status with a negative outlook yesterday, due to concerns about the company's profitability in the face of the plunging commodities prices. Moody's cut Noble's senior unsecured bond ratings to Ba1, which is junk status, from Baa3. It also gave a Ba1 corporate family rating to Noble, despite its cost-cutting efforts such as [...]
Amazon expands Pantry online supermarket as it lays out fresh challenge to UK’s Big Four supermarkets Asda, Tesco, Sainbury’s and Morrisons December 29, 2015 Amazon’s foray into the supermarket sector has quickly become a success, after the online retail giant announced plans to expand its new Pantry service in the UK next year. In other words, there's more disruption ahead for the UK’s troubled traditional supermarkets. The “Big Four” – Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – are struggling to keep up [...]
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and even Lidl supermarkets slash Christmas 2015 advertising spend December 22, 2015 Britain's beleaguered supermarkets have slashed the amount of cash they are spending on advertising over Christmas this year, with Tesco and Sainsbury's cutting budgets by as much as 30 per cent. Troubled Tesco made the biggest cuts to its festive advertising, spending almost £3m less in a four week run up to the big day compared to last [...]
All change on the FTSE: Morrisons joins the FTSE 250 and Worldpay moves up into the FTSE 100 December 21, 2015 Worldpay's share price rose, though not by much, on its first day of trading on the FTSE 100. Shares were up 0.97 per cent to 300.9p. The payments processor was bumped up in the quarterly review just a couple of months after floating in one of the most successful IPOs of 2015, claiming a market capitalisation of £5.28bn after its [...]
FTSE 100 index opens up as miners and ITV make gains while Associated British Foods, Rolls-Royce and Smith and Nephew fall December 21, 2015 The FTSE 100 index opened up this morning, as losses from Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) and Rolls-Royce were compensated for by gains at miners, BG Group and ITV. The UK's top blue-chip index was 0.64 per cent up at 6,052 points in early morning trading. BG Group was 0.97 per cent higher at 916.85p per share [...]
Sir Ken Morrison has taken a £6m stake in rival Sainsbury’s December 21, 2015 The outspoken former chairman of Morrisons has taken a £6m stake in rival supermarket Sainsbury's. Sir Ken Morrison now owns 2.6m share in Sainsbury, while his son William owns 2.1m, giving the pair a combined £11.9m stake. The man who once told Morrisons' chief executive Dalton Phillips his strategy was "bulls***" has gone further than just implied support. [...]