WILL TESCO’S CLUBCARD STOP IT FROM LOSING MARKET SHARE? August 18, 2009 KEITH BOWMAN HARGREAVES LANSDOWNI’m sure it’s being done as a way to fight back against the competition. There are groups of shoppers who chase the cheapest deal, so this may encourage more customer loyalty. NICK BUBB PALI INTERNATIONALIt’s Tesco’s trump card. Whether it will attract away from the competition is another matter. WM Morrison doesn’t [...]
How Mr Wigan has put JJB and the City behind him to live the dream August 16, 2009 EVAN at 72 Wigan serial entrepreneur Dave Whelan still gives an impression of a man in a hurry. Whelan moves at a sprightly pace between tables in the director’s box at Wigan Athletic, the Premier League football club he owns, and his trim figure still hints at a man who played professional football for Blackburn, [...]
JOBS DRIVE FOR MORRISONS August 12, 2009 WM MORRISON yesterday said it would create 7,000 jobs in 2009, exceeding its initial target by 40 per cent. Britain’s fourth largest grocery said it had reached its original target of 5,000 new jobs five months early and would now add an additional 2,000 posts. One-third of the new recruits will be in the 18 [...]
Keane fumes at Ipswich defeat August 9, 2009 FOOTBALL: Ipswich boss Roy Keane blasted his team’s defending after they lost their Championship opener at Coventry. City striker Clinton Morrison scored twice in a 2-1 win, with his decisive second a stooped header. Keane said: “If you’re a defender and he heads it that low you take his head off, it’s as simple as [...]
PENSIONS CRISIS AS DEFICITS SOAR August 4, 2009 FTSE 100 companies are running a combined pension deficit of £96bn, the largest ever recorded, a leading firm of consulting actuaries will reveal today. The collapse in stock markets means that the shortfall is more than twice the £41bn recorded a year ago, Lane Clark & Peacock’s (LCP) will say. The financial crisis has also [...]
CHINA LOOKS OVER-COOKED RIGHT NOW July 27, 2009 DAVID MORRISONSENIOR DERIVATIVES TRADER, GFT YESTERDAY saw the result of the first Chinese initial public offering (IPO) in over a year since Chinese regulators suspended IPOs in September 2008 after worries that too many companies were anxious to tap investors for funds. And what a success the debut was. On the first day of trading [...]
New evidence in dairy probe July 23, 2009 The Office of Fair Trading said yesterday that it had provided more evidence to supermarkets and dairy companies as part of a probe into price-fixing of dairy products seven years ago. The watchdog said only Tesco and Wm Morrison were continuing to contest the provisional findings, issued in September 2007.
Supermarket sweep pushes FTSE to seventh rise in a row July 21, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index rose for a seventh-straight day yesterday, boosted by supermarkets after a trading update from Wm Morrison, and after strong US quarterly results, with miners also lending support. The FTSE 100 closed 37.55 points higher, or 0.9 per cent, at 4,481.17, following a gain of 1.3 per cent on Monday. The index [...]
Supermarkets that reacted to slump are strongest July 21, 2009 THE usual assumption is that the stock market is a “leading indicator” for economic confidence. But as today’s cut of YouGov data shows, it doesn’t lead public sentiment, but is actually behind. The graph shows the BrandIndex scores for public perception of “value for money” (rolling monthly average) for Waitrose, J Sainsbury and M&S, alongside [...]
COMEBACK KID July 21, 2009 SHARES in WM Morrison made spectacular gains yesterday after the supermarket said it would beat profit forecasts. The announcement, which coincided with research showing that it is grabbing market share from rivals, confirmed Morrisons’ new status as the City’s favourite retail stock. Morrisons grew by 9.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to 12 July [...]