Sainsbury’s takes the lead at Christmas January 8, 2013 SAINSBURY posted the highest sales growth of the so called big four grocers in the run-up to Christmas and was the only one to grow market share, data revealed yesterday. Figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed Britain’s grocery market grew 3.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 23 December, with the strongest growth at the [...]
Aldi hitting the mainstream as customers seek value January 8, 2013 THIS time last year poor results at Tesco shocked investors and the grocery sector, although followers of YouGov’s BrandIndex and this column would have been aware of their problems a month earlier. With the all-important Christmas season now behind us I’ve taken a look back at 2012 to see what the big customer perception stories [...]
Morrisons says Christmas sales disappointing January 7, 2013 MORRISONS chief executive Dalton Philips yesterday defended his strategy for the group after the grocer confirmed its position as the turkey among “the big four” this Christmas. The grocer reported a 2.5 per cent slump in like-for-like sales in the six weeks to 30 December, despite the help from an extra pre-Christmas trading day compared [...]
Analyst Views | Was the statement from Morrisons as bad as expected? January 7, 2013 PHILIP DORGAN PANMURE GORDAN This trading statement is grim, but there is no direct profit warning, in part because consensus continues to fall. We see continued downside to consensus profits for 2014 and 2015, given the likely sales underperformance and the costs of entry into new channels. KATE CALVERT SEYMOUR PIERCE Despite soft comparables, Morrison [...]
FTSE mettle is tested by slump in commodities January 7, 2013 AS THE markets settled into the first full week of trading of the year, the FTSE had its 2013 bull run checked, dropping 17 points yesterday. The commodity and miner-heavy benchmark index had been pushed to multi-year highs by the effects of a global risk-off sentiment, with the FTSE breaking the psychologically significant 6,000 level [...]
Banks steal spotlight despite weakness in FTSE 100 January 7, 2013 The FTSE 100 stalled this morning after closing at its highest level since February on Friday, with miners dragging down the index. In early deals, it was down around 0.25 per cent. A relaxation in bank liquidity rules dominated the headlines this morning, as regulators said last night that banks will have longer to build [...]
Morrisons reveals worsening pre-Christmas sales January 7, 2013 Supermarket Morrisons posted declining sales in the run-up to Christmas this morning, as it admitted its sales were “disappointing”. Over the six weeks to 30 December, total sales excluding fuel were down by 0.5 per cent. Like for like sales suffered a larger drop, down by 2.5 per cent over the period, the retailer said [...]
Grocers set to unveil festive trading figures January 7, 2013 TESCO is expected to emerge as the winner of a tough Christmas trading period for Britain’s big four supermarkets as weak consumer confidence, falling real incomes and rising real prices put pressure on the sector. Analysts predict the grocer will on Thursday post a one per cent rise in UK like-for-like sales for the six [...]
Waitrose smashes Christmas sales records January 3, 2013 WAITROSE yesterday toasted record trading in the run-up to the New Year after the grocer said aggressive promotions on products such as champagne and its Brand Price Match campaign helped to lure customers from rivals. The upmarket supermarket, which is owned by John Lewis, said like-for-like sales rose 5.4 per cent between 18 December New [...]
FTSE rally eludes UK grocery giants January 2, 2013 SUPERMARKET chains Morrisons and Sainsbury’s failed to make the most of UK investors’ New Year optimism yesterday after analysts raised fears that their performance had been less than stellar over the crucial Christmas trading period. Morrisons was one of just three fallers in the FTSE – closing down two per cent – after house broker [...]