Analyst Views: What was your reaction to Sainsbury’s third quarter statement? January 8, 2014 GRAHAM JONES | PANMURE GORDONA very difficult October and November was made up by strong Christmas trading..we continue to view Sainsbury’s as the best placed of the UK food retailers, but our caution on the short-term sector outlook holds us back from having a more positive recommendation on the stock. JAMES GRZINIC | JEFFERIESKantar data [...]
London Report: Investors take punt on banks to drive FTSE up January 7, 2014 THE UK’S blue chip share index rose to a one-week high yesterday, with gains in financial stocks pushing the FTSE 100 towards major technical resistance levels. Lloyds rallied three per cent, as investors bought the stock on expectations that the bank will start paying dividends this year and that it will benefit from a recovering [...]
Inside Track: My top tip for 2014: Deutsche Post will buy Royal Mail December 18, 2013 IT wouldn’t be the final column of a calendar year without some predictions for the next 12 months. Here are my top three: Royal Mail will complete a journey from being wholly-owned by the UK state to wholly-owned by a German enterprise within little more than 12 months. Deutsche Post won’t get it delivered cheap, [...]
BP makes major oil discovery in Gulf of Mexico December 18, 2013 Oil giant BP has announced this morning that it's made a "significant discovery" in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This is the company's third discovery in recent years – it announced findings in 2006 and 2009 – but is its largest discovery in the region since the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010. It may well reignite the heated [...]
Supermarkets slump as half of UK shoppers head to discounters December 17, 2013 FOR THE first time ever, more than half of the UK shopped in either an Aldi or Lidl in the last three months, putting pressure on bigger retailers as the shift toward discount shopping continues unabated. Sales at Aldi surged by 30.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to 8 December while its smaller discount rival [...]
Supermarket fuel war reignites as Tesco and Asda drop prices December 17, 2013 THE SUPERMARKET fuel price war sparked off once again yesterday, after two major chains introduced new price cuts, effective from this morning. Tesco and Asda are both dropping the price of petrol by up to 2p per litre and diesel by 1p per litre. Spokespersons from Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s confirmed yesterday that they were not [...]
Brand Index: Never mind the hare and bear – Brits are going budget December 17, 2013 OUR RECENT online focus group of people from the so-called “squeezed middle” revealed that they are not feeling the benefits of the economic recovery and also have virtually no faith in politicians (from any political party) to help improve their lot. This week I will delve into which brands the squeezed middle are warming to this [...]
City Moves for 18 December 2013 | Who’s switching jobs December 17, 2013 Arbuthnot Latham The private bank has appointed Clara Gandelman Vila as a senior private banker in its executives team. She was most recently at UBS Wealth Management, where she was a client adviser in its key clients and high net worth divisions, focusing on UK and international private clients. Debevoise & Plimpton The law firm has recruited Tony [...]
London Report: Supermarket slump sees FTSE fall again after Monday’s lift December 17, 2013 BRITAIN’S main equity index fell yesterday, with big supermarket groups hit by fresh signs of a loss of market share, while uncertainty over future US monetary policy also weighed on the market. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down by 0.6 per cent, or 36.01 points, at 6,486.19 points, retreating after a 1.3 per cent [...]
Supermarket shares slide as customers move to discounters December 17, 2013 More than half of us shopped at Aldi or Lidl in the last 12 weeks for the first time, according to Kantar Worldpanel data. That's seen more premium supermarkets take a hit – Sainsbury's are down by over 2.8 per cent, Tesco by nearly 1.5 per cent, and Morrison has seen a fall of 1.4 [...]