Supermarkets slate minimum alcohol pricing September 16, 2012 SUPERMARKETS have hit out at plans for minimum alcohol pricing, despite being told they could make up to £2.2bn in extra profits under proposals to curb binge drinking. Public responses to David Cameron’s plans to introduce a price floor are set to be invited in the coming weeks, with drinks manufacturers set to campaign against [...]
Morrisons puts faith in roll out of local stores September 6, 2012 MORRISONS yesterday batted off concerns that it is slipping behind rivals, unveiling plans to roll out convenience stores across London and step up its fresh food offer in a bid to stem declining sales. Britain’s fourth largest supermarket said like-for-like sales, excluding VAT and fuel, fell 0.9 per cent in the first half of the [...]
Analyst Views | What performance can we expect in the second half of the year? September 6, 2012 KATE CALVERT SEYMOUR PIERCE Morrison has always been scale disadvantaged relative to its peers and the pace of change from Dalton Philips has not turned out to be fast enough. As we expect the industry to remain just as competitive and consumer demand to remain subdued…we feel Morrison will struggle to outperform its peerS. PHILIP [...]
FTSE rallies after ECB’s bond buying plan boosts investors’ confidence September 6, 2012 MINERS and banks led the rebound on Britain’s FTSE 100 yesterday, after investors gave an initial thumbs up to ECB president Mario Draghi’s bond buying plans, while strong US data also helped lift sentiment. The FTSE 100 100 closed up 119.48 points, or 2.1 per cent, at 5777.34 as the index recovered losses sustained over [...]
FTSE 100 up on ECB meeting hopes September 6, 2012 The blue chip index was up in morning trading, as markets were dominated by speculation over European Central Bank policy action at the monthly meeting later today. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee minutes will also be released today, at 12 noon. Miners led the index up, as Lonmin was an early riser, adding [...]
Morrisons profit rises in tough market September 6, 2012 Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket Morrisons posted first-half profit towards the top end of forecasts and said it was on track to meet its expectations for the year even though it anticipated no let-up in pressure on the consumer. Morrisons, which trails Tesco, Wal-Mart’s Asda and J Sainsbury by annual sales, said today it made an underlying [...]
FTSE loses 1.5pc with investors not holding breath over ECB’s summit September 4, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday reflecting investor uncertainty over whether this week’s key European Central Bank (ECB) meeting will deliver the goods on a hoped for bond-buying scheme designed to ease the euro debt crisis. The FTSE 100 closed down 86.40 points, or 1.5 per cent, at 5,672.01, ending back below the 5,700 level [...]
Supermarkets enjoy a rare lift during summer September 3, 2012 THE RETURN of the warmer summer weather together with the Olympics and the use of vouchers helped grocers enjoy their best trading performance of the year last month, in a rare bright spot amid the gloom across the rest of the retail industry. According to the latest figures from Nielsen, grocery sales in the four [...]
Best of the Brokers September 3, 2012 ADMIRAL Credit Suisse has cut the insurance firm’s target price to 1250p from 1300p and downgraded its recommendation to “neutral” from “outperform”. The note cited weak car growth. MORRISON Nomura’s rating of the supermarket giant has been slashed to “neutral” from “buy” while the target price is down to 300p from 350p. A refocused Tesco [...]
Elusive Draghi set to keep us waiting September 3, 2012 PREDICTING what central bankers will say, when they will say it – or even whether they will show up to deliver a speech – is becoming an inane pursuit. The banker in question is the elusive Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), who was to deliver a speech at the European Parliament [...]