The revolving door of Australian Prime Ministers is a lesson for May August 30, 2018 You know the story: Australia has yet another Prime Minister. In fact, it has been 11 years since one has completed a full three-year term, and as of last week, five people have held the office in as many years. It is enough to make British politics look strong and stable. Read more: Lidington tells [...]
Drama down under as Aussies appoint new Prime Minister August 24, 2018 Australia appointed Scott Morrison as its sixth Prime Minister in less than 10 years in the early hours of this morning after Malcolm Turnbull was ousted from the role last night. Morrison was previously Australia’s Treasurer, equivalent to the UK’s Chancellor, having been first elected to Australia’s House of Representatives in 2007. He was elected [...]
Supermarket sweep: Which FTSE 100 grocer is the best buy? August 14, 2018 British supermarkets haven’t had an easy ride lately. There’s been plenty for them to worry about – the biggest being the rising cost of imports as sterling has continued to slide (the pound dropped to €1.11 and $1.28 last week). A weak pound has tightened profit margins. And with heavy competition from discount retailers, passing [...]
Ocado delivers mixed results July 10, 2018 Ocado revealed a mixed set of first-half results. Revenue rose by 12.1 per cent to £799 million, while EBITDA slipped by 13.9 per cent to £38.9 million. When you factor in depreciation, amortisation, impairments and net finance costs the company swung to a loss of £9 million. The CFO expects the full-year pre-tax loss to [...]
Mastercard and Visa lose battle with supermarkets over debit and credit card charges July 4, 2018 Mastercard and Visa have lost the latest round of an ongoing legal battle with a conglomerate of supermarkets after a court found their card charges were too high and had breached competition rules. The two credit card giants had been accused by a number of retailers of charging overly high fees – known as interchange [...]
Billionaire hedgie Crispin Odey looks to boot out bosses at struggling Tungsten July 1, 2018 Billionaire hedgie Crispin Odey is leading a charge to overhaul the board of beleaguered digital invoicing firm Tungsten. A notice from Tungsten confirmed that Odey Asset Management had demanded a shareholder vote to remove the company's chair Nicholas Parker, as well as chief exec Richard Hurwitz and two non-executive directors. The requisition aims to appoint [...]
Pub giant Marston’s signs five year deal with leading US craft brewer Founders Brewing Company June 26, 2018 UK pub giant Marston’s has made a distribution deal with an American craft brewer as it looks to corner a growing market for independent beer. Marston’s, which owns chains such as Pitcher & Piano and Two For One, will be hoping that the five-year deal with Founders Brewing Company will help the firm recover from [...]
Sainsbury’s sales dip while Ocado and Lidl gain in latest grocer data June 26, 2018 Sainsbury's was the only supermarket to see a decline in sales during the 12 weeks to 17 June, new data shows. Sales slipped by £10m compared to the same period last year, bringing its market share down to 15.6 per cent, according to Kantar Worldpanel. Tesco, Asda and Morrisons also all lost market share despite [...]
Asda ranked worst big supermarket for treatment of suppliers while Iceland comes last overall June 25, 2018 Asda ranks lowest among the big four supermarkets for treatment of suppliers, according to the regulator's annual report released today. Out of all 10 grocers assessed by the Groceries Code Adjudicator survey, Iceland ranked last and the Co-op was second from the bottom. Some eight per cent of Asda suppliers reported that the supermarket "rarely" [...]
M&S should look at a tie-up with Amazon, says former digital boss June 20, 2018 A former Marks & Spencer digital boss has said that the retailer should consider a tie-up with Amazon. Amazon has been making aggressive moves into the UK’s retail sector through its acquisition of Whole Foods and a tie-up with Morrisons. It even talked to the John Lewis Partnership about a potential takeover of Waitrose, but [...]