Ocado shorters scrambling to shrink positions July 22, 2013 HEDGE funds who bet against Ocado have continued to shrink their unprofitable positions in the online grocer, shares in which have soared since its £216m tie-up with supermarket WM Morrison in May. Ocado has been a longstanding favourite among shortsellers, who borrow shares in the hope that a company’s share price will fall. However, the [...]
Review: The World’s End July 18, 2013 FILM THE WORLD’S END Cert 12a | By Alex Dymoke Three Stars MORRISON’S car parks, Kit Kats, national rail services from Leicester to Coventry – it’s easy to hate the banal rubbishness of small-town Britain. But as a spate of offbeat British comedies have shown, it’s easy to love it too. Hot Fuzz, [...]
Britain isn’t classless but it’s time we all stopped worrying about it April 9, 2013 WHAT does a classless society look like? Is George Osborne its emblem – heir to a seventeenth baronetcy, but willing to drop his crystalline intonation to find common ground with a bunch of Morrison’s shelf stackers? Or is it only found in particular places? Perhaps class first died in London’s Docklands, gutted by war and [...]
Ikea pulls sausages from stores as horsegate continues February 27, 2013 Ikea is pulling its wiener sausages from sale in France, Spain, UK, Ireland & Portugal. The sausages are produced by Dafgaard, the same Swedish suppler as its meatballs. Dafgaard is contesting the results of tests conducted on the meatballs by Czech Republic officials. "Out of 320 tests performed in the last three weeks, none contain [...]
Horsemeat fear sends burger sales plunging February 26, 2013 SUPERMARKET sales of frozen burgers and ready meals have plummeted since the horsemeat scandal reared its ugly head last month, industry data shows. Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel yesterday said frozen burger sales fell by 43 per cent and frozen ready meals declined by 13 per cent in the four weeks to 17 February, as retailers [...]
Morrisons is among the winners of the ongoing saga February 26, 2013 BRAND INDEX IKEA now joins the long list of brands to get hit by the horsemeat scandal. We won’t have numbers until later today but judging from what happened to Tesco, the Swedish group may well have a problem. The first time I wrote on this subject back in January, I said it might turn [...]
Morrisons buys six HMV shops February 26, 2013 SUPERMARKET firm Morrisons last night announced it had bought six former HMV shops in London and the south east which it will convert into convenience stores. Its purchase of the units comes in the same week it bought 49 Blockbuster stores for the same purpose. The Yorkshire-based grocery business, a late entrant into the corner shop market, [...]
M in meltdown as the founders join the exodus February 26, 2013 JUST a few hours after The Capitalist disclosed that five key members of staff had quit the City’s top flight financial PR agency M:Communications came the revelation that suggests things are getting serious. Founders Nick Miles and Hugh Morrison, both City veterans and big revenue earners, announced that they are also leaving the group, which [...]
Best of the Brokers February 26, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com HOME RETAIL GROUP Espirito Santo rates the retailer “sell” with a fair value of 85p. The broker sees the reported closure of the firm’s Argos joint venture in China as a sensible step, allowing management to focus on improving the key domestic business. [...]
Top spin doctors’ PR firm hit by defections over owner strategy February 25, 2013 SIGNS of exodus yesterday at M Communications, the top flight financial public relations agency founded by City veterans Nick Miles and Hugh Morrison. According to insiders, five senior people handed in their resignations, unhappy about the way the agency’s profits are being distributed. Insiders told The Capitalist last night that M, with annual revenues of [...]