Morrisons buys 49 Blockbuster shops to grow convenience unit February 17, 2013 SUPERMARKET chain Morrisons yesterday snapped up 49 stores from defunct video chain Blockbuster, proving its commitment to the UK high street as it seeks to expand its offering of smaller shops. Blockbuster collapsed into administration last month, and advisers Deloitte are planning to close 332 stores across the UK. Morrisons, which earlier this month bought [...]
FTSE pauses for breath beneath the 6,300 mark February 11, 2013 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 was lifted yesterday by strength in energy stocks and food retailers, but the index was still struggling to break through the four-and-a-half year highs hit at the start of February. London’s blue chip index gained 13.13 points, or 0.2 per cent at 6,277.06, holding within the 70-point range of the last five [...]
Mining and banking shares boost FTSE February 11, 2013 The leading share index was modestly up in early deals, as mining and banking shares boosted the FTSE 100. Russian steelmaker Evraz rose 1.77 per cent. Miner Eurasian Natural Resources was up almost 1.7 per cent in early deals. Last week the Kazakh-focused miner soared more than nine per cent as it reported a jump [...]
Supermarket Ocado edges towards profit February 7, 2013 ONLINE grocer Ocado yesterday narrowed year-end losses from £2.4m to just £600,000 as it edged ever closer towards profitability, easing the concerns of long-suffering investors. Shares in the company, which has not made a profit since it began trading thirteen years ago, yesterday closed up 11 per cent at 115.9p. This is still well below [...]
Analyst views | Are you happy with Ocado’s results? February 7, 2013 PHILIP DORGAN PANMURE GORDON 2012 was another difficult year for Ocado. It failed to deliver accelerated sales growth and it needed to raise money… The debate now moves on to whether its assets are attractive to either M&S or Morrison and, if so, at what price? DARREN SHIRLEY SHORE CAPITAL Ocado’s 2011/12 preliminary results came [...]
Morrisons buys Jessops stores for expansion February 3, 2013 WM Morrison, the supermarket chain, has bought seven former Jessops outlets from the collapsed specialist camera chain’s administrators PwC. The UK’s fourth largest grocer plans to convert the sites into M Local shops as it begins its assault on the fast-growing convenience store market this year. Four of the former Jessops stores are in London [...]
The trusted brand with personality at its core February 3, 2013 YOU may have seen Clippy McKenna’s eponymous preserves on your supermarket shelves. Her two-man show (it is just Clippy and fiancé Paul Gorman working at the business; everything else, including the actual jam-making, is contracted out) now stocks its products in some of the biggests stores – including Tesco and Harvey Nichols. After graduating as [...]
Spurs march on but Villas-Boas faces striker headache after injury to Defoe February 3, 2013 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 TOTTENHAM manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted that he is sweating over the fitness of Jermain Defoe after the striker limped out of yesterday’s win at the Hawthorns. A second half strike from Gareth Bale earned Spurs all three points against West Brom, who played nearly half of the [...]
Tesco fightback steadies giant’s market share January 29, 2013 TESCO maintained its market share and matched market growth for the first time since June 2011, according to the latest grocery share data from Kantar Worldpanel. The UK’s biggest supermarket grew sales year-on-year by 3.3 per cent in the 12 weeks to 20 January, giving it a market share of 30.4 per cent, as its [...]
The Hut Group takes hold of cycling gear site Probikekit January 29, 2013 THE HUT Group yesterday announced it had bought Probikekit, the latest in a string of acquisitions from the internet retailer. By snapping up the firm, which counts retail veterans Sir Stuart Rose and Sir Terry Leahy among its backers, the outfit has jumped on the bandwagon of the recent cycling craze, driven by Olympic stars [...]