WM Morrison in £32m deal to prepare ground for web war March 10, 2011 WM MORRISON yesterday announced a £32m deal to purchase a ten per cent stake in New York-based online grocer FreshDirect, as it prepares the ground to take on rivals on the web. Under the terms of the deal, Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips will take a seat on the board, and top Morrisons executives will [...]
John Lewis issues £50m retail bond March 6, 2011 THE John Lewis Partnership has issued a retail bond for its cardholders and Partners in a bid to raise £50m of funds by April. Customers who hold either the Partnership or Account cards, as well as current Partners in the employee-owned firm, can invest lump sums of between £1,000 and £10,000 into the John Lewis [...]
Ocado sales up 25pc March 4, 2011 Online grocer Ocado posted a 25 per cent rise in first-quarter sales and said it remained profitable, despite a challenging economic backdrop which has hit many retailers hard. The group, which mostly sells the products of grocer Waitrose, said it made gross sales of £146.2m in the 12 weeks to 20 February, in line with [...]
Ocado lifted by upgrade March 1, 2011 OCADO shares were boosted yesterday after broker Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the shares. The stock has fallen by almost a quarter since 11 February, when Goldman – Ocado’s house broker – placed ten per cent of the company’s shares at 265p each. Goldman raised its rating on the online delivery company from “hold” [...]
Traders still shorting Ocado stock as online grocer hits near-record high February 22, 2011 ONLINE grocer Ocado’s shares are still being shorted aggressively despite enjoying record highs this month, according to figures seen by City A.M. The firm, which floated at 180p in July, closed at 224p yesterday after spiking at 290p on 10 February. But figures from Data Explorer, which monitors stock loan and short selling activity, show [...]
Late rally fails to push FTSE up to 6,000 February 22, 2011 The FTSE rallied valiantly this afternoon on the back of strong US consumer confidence data, after incurring a morning of losses from concern over the ongoing Libya crisis. Banks and commodities suffered from concerns that crude oil prices would spike and knock the global recovery, and the FTSE 100 closed down 0.3 per cent at [...]
Ocado hit by boss share sale February 21, 2011 OCADO shares took a tumble yesterday after chief executive Tim Steiner sold £5m worth of Ocado stock. Steiner’s move – plus the announcement that Waitrose was planning to revamp its own online delivery service – saw the stock close down 7.75 per cent at 239p. Waitrose, which has a ten-year contract with Ocado to supply the [...]
Hedgie makes big Ocado loss February 20, 2011 ONLINE grocer Ocado’s recent growth has stung a US hedge fund, which has reportedly lost up to £40m by shorting Ocado stock after the firm’s rocky flotation in July. Elinor Carter Brooks from New York-based Blue Ridge Capital is thought to have bet against the shares when they had already dropped to near all-time lows [...]
IT bull that shorts Ocado February 20, 2011 BLUE Ridge Capital, the hedge fund thought to have lost £40m after betting against Ocado, is no stranger to internet-based businesses: its two biggest long positions in the US are online giants Amazon and Apple, according to an SEC filing last week. The fund was set up by former Tiger Management president John Griffin in [...]
Morrisons in £70m deal to join web war February 15, 2011 WM MORRISON yesterday announced that it had finally taken the plunge into online retail, splashing out £70m on baby goods firm Kiddicare. The supermarket giant has so far resisted the move to the web while rivals like Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda see online sales as vital to their financial health. But the purchase of Kiddicare [...]