Asda promises turnaround after sales hit rock bottom August 19, 2015 ASDA chief executive Andy Clarke insisted that the company was seeing the first “green shoots” of a recovery despite revealing its worst ever quarterly result in the 16 years it has been owned by US chain Wal-Mart. The supermarket chain, which recently lost its position as Britain’s second-largest food retailer to Sainsbury’s, said like-for-like sales [...]
Don’t fear low inflation: It’s great news for consumers while it lasts August 18, 2015 The latest retail figures in the UK showed good growth. Things are also looking up in the US and in much of the euro area. The world economy has settled into a period of steady growth with very little inflation in the major economies. Indeed, just yesterday, official figures revealed that consumer price index inflation [...]
These are the UK’s most popular chief executive names August 18, 2015 The most common name among FTSE 100 chief executives is David, with Michael and Simon falling into joint second place. Using data scraped from Reuters, City A.M. found that 17 of the UK's 100 biggest companies are headed up by a man with one of these three names. David is way in the [...]
FTSE closes flat but miners fall to six-year low – London Report August 18, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index closed flat yesterday, weakened by US data and by mining companies hitting multi-year lows. The FTSE 100 index closed down a tiny 0.007 per cent – or 0.44 points – at 6,550.30. This followed the release of a survey which showed manufacturing activity in New York state at its weakest level [...]
FTSE lags European markets as commodities are hit again August 17, 2015 The FTSE 100 was the only European market not to make gains this morning, falling 0.25 per cent to 6,534 points, after China's decision to devalue its currency continued to hit commodities. The index was pulled down by Randgold Resources, BP and BHP Billiton, as well as Glencore, whose share price fell 0.64 per cent [...]
Morrisons nears deal to offload M Local stores August 16, 2015 Morrisons is in talks to sell its convenience stores to the investment firm behind the rescue of Monarch Airlines as the struggling supermarket chain focuses on reviving its core business. The Bradford-based retailer is said to be nearing a deal with a team of industry executives led by Greybull Capital to offload its M Local [...]
PGA Championship: Dustin Johnson sets pace in quest for Major title August 14, 2015 Major-chasing Dustin Johnson insisted he will not be weighed down by past near-misses after setting the pace during the opening round of the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits yesterday. Johnson, who was given a two-stroke penalty with victory in his sights at the same course in 2010, carded a six-under-par round of 66 to top [...]
Milk price row: This startup August 12, 2015 There's a big row going on between farmers and supermarkets over the price of milk. Farmers say they are suffering because the rival grocery stores such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons are battling each other on costs, which has caused milk prices to fall leaving them increasingly out of pocket. The supermarkets' on the other [...]
Milking it: Morrisons launches premium brand to “directly” support dairy farmers August 11, 2015 Morrisons is looking to herd off criticism from dairy farmers over the price of its milk by launching a new brand that it claims will “directly” support the trade. Morrisons Milk for Farmers will launch this autumn, sitting alongside the supermarket's standard range. This brand however will cost 10p per litre more than [...]
Farming unions and Farmers for Action to meet Morrisons as supermarket price wars drive down milk prices August 11, 2015 Dairy farmer groups are meeting with Morrisons bosses today as the two groups attempt to solve the ongoing dispute over milk prices. The meeting – which a Morrisons spokeswoman played down as “a cup of tea and a chat between a couple of people” – comes on the back of a week-long demonstration by [...]