Sainsbury’s online boss promoted February 27, 2014 Sainsbury’s has promoted the head of its £1bn online business Jon Rudoe to the operating board, as the supermarket chain ramps up its online efforts. Sainsbury’s said the move reflected “the rapidly growing importance of online and digital sales channels,” with Rudoe taking over all responsibility for IT. Before joining Sainsbury’s in 2011 Rudoe was [...]
Here’s what 3 banks are saying about Tesco’s latest turnaround plan February 26, 2014 Tesco’s shares are down more than four per cent, after the supermarket chain scrapped its profit margin target and laid out plans to invest in lowering its prices, prompting analysts cuts their ratings and price targets. Deutsche Bank cut its earning before interest and tax (EBIT) forecast of a £50m decline in the year to [...]
Tesco retreats as Clarke puts the brakes on February 25, 2014 Supermarket pulls out of the space race with plans to slash spending and cut prices TESCO’S chief executive pledged yesterday to put the brakes on its UK expansion and spend £200m slashing prices as Britain’s biggest grocer seeks to revive sales and win back falling market share. Speaking at an investor conference, Philip Clarke laid [...]
Bottom Line: Family will struggle to get backers to bite February 12, 2014 INVESTORS in Morrisons clearly aren’t convinced that a private equity prince is waiting in the wings ready to swoop with a buyout offer for the struggling supermarket. After an initial leap upwards – recovering little of the downwards slump it has seen over the past two year – shares closed just 0.25 per cent higher, [...]
Ocado co-founder Jason Gissing offloads 3m shares worth £15m February 6, 2014 OCADO’S outgoing commercial director and co-founder Jason Gissing sold shares worth £15m on the day that the online grocer announced full-year losses of £12.5m. Gissing, who announced on Tuesday that he would be leaving the company, sold just over three million shares on the same day at 498.75p each, reducing his stake by 0.52 per [...]
Ocado co-founder offloads 3m shares after losses shock February 6, 2014 After the grocer suffered pre-tax losses of £12.5m in the year to 1 December, co-founder and director Jason Gissing has sold over 3m shares. Gissing is a founding director, and yesterday it was announced that he would step down, leaving chief executive Tim Steiner as the only remaining co-founder at the company. Steiner said that [...]
Ocado founder Gissing to leave as sales increase February 4, 2014 OCADO’s Jason Gissing is to step down, leaving chief executive Tim Steiner as the only co-founder still at the grocer, which posted sales growth of 15 per cent yesterday. Despite growing revenues, the firm suffered a pre-tax loss of £12.5m for the year to 1 December, compared with £600,000 the previous year. The group said [...]
Bottom Line: Ocado profits set to come in the nick of time February 4, 2014 OCADO’S detractors are starting to wear a little thin. For three-and-a-half years – since its market debut in July 2010 at 180p – investors have mostly stuck around as the price fluctuated between 54p to recent record highs close to 10 times that. For the most part, the upward trajectory has been uninterrupted since Sir [...]
Co-founder of Ocado steps down as the company reports £12.5m loss February 4, 2014 Online grocer Ocado has suffered a pre-tax loss of £12.5m for the year ended 1 December, despite increasing sales growth and the company’s deal with Morrison's last year to supply a new online service. Gross sales rose by 15 per cent to £843m, with new customer acquisitions up over 40 per cent on 2012. Analysts [...]
London Report: Survey figures forecast to show more UK growth February 2, 2014 MANUFACTURING data, due out today, is the first of the UK survey figures that will be the highlights of this week’s economic calendar. Construction figures will follow tomorrow and services data on Wednesday, with all sectors expected to show further growth. Industrial production data is due on Friday. Martin Beck of Capital Economics said: “On [...]