Exclusive: Charging firm EO signs deal to power-up Tesco’s EV fleet October 10, 2021 Electric vehicle (EV) solutions provider EO Charging has secured a deal to power Tesco’s fleet of electric vans, EO told City A.M. EO Charging, founded in 2014 in Suffolk, will provide the supermarket giant with more than 200 AC fast chargers as well as 5 DC rapid ones across five depots – including Oxford, Glasgow, [...]
Asos expected to reveal sales boosted by post freedom day shopping October 10, 2021 Online fashion retailer Asos is expected to outline a slowdown in sales growth this week as its profit margins take a hammering from global freight shortages. The fashion giant saw sales jump during the pandemic as shoppers turned to online shops for comfortable clothes to lock down in. Analysts said they anticipated freight shortages, currency [...]
Is bling out? What Chinese “common prosperity” means for luxury goods October 8, 2021 Evergrande Group will not have helped to calm the nerves of investors in European luxury goods companies. They’ve viewed recent developments in China with some trepidation. The difficulties facing the country’s second largest property developer (by sales) add to a checklist of concerns. These concerns include a slowdown in economic activity (for background, see: China: what [...]
Fill it up: Saudi Aramco mulls an IPO for its retail fuels business October 7, 2021 Oil giant Saudi Aramco is said to be considering an IPO for its retail fuels and lubricants business. Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s most valuable companies, want to pursue the float plans so that it can maintain its multi-billion-dollar dividend policy, Bloomberg reports. The unit is reasonable new, having only been set up as [...]
Fund inflows jump to reach record August clip October 7, 2021 British investors poured a record amount of money into funds during the typically quiet summer period. £5.3bn in funds flowed into funds in August, the first time inflows have topped £5bn, according to the Investment Association. A low interest rate environment, compounded by soaring inflation, has made investment funds more attractive to investors. Households looking [...]
Britain’s economic adjustment only ends in one way October 7, 2021 The ails of the nation’s favourite sausage roll maker are a microcosm of the problems afflicting the UK economy. In a trading update yesterday, high street baker Greggs warned it is suffering from a “supply of ingredients.” A couple months back, it pulled its iconic chicken bite for similar reasons. Severe shortages plaguing the British [...]
Mothercare’s new passage to India October 6, 2021 Buggies to bibs retailer Mothercare is to enter the potentially lucrative Indian market where there are 110m toddlers. Mothercare has signed a franchise agreement with Shopper-Stop to open 40 stores in India over the next five years. The first outlet will open in April 2006. “The exciting thing about India is there are 110m kids [...]
One in three Brits plans to stockpile food and drink this month for Christmas October 6, 2021 One third of consumers have already stockpiled food and drink items for Christmas, or are likely to before the end of the month. A survey from Lumina Intelligence found that more than half (56 per cent) of consumers were somewhat worried about media coverage of others stockpiling. 10 per cent said they were very worried. [...]
Fast Lane: Lookers raises profit guidance despite challenging market conditions October 6, 2021 Lookers, a leading UK motor retail and aftersale group, has lifted profit expectations for the year on the back of promising Q3 results. While new car sales flagged amid a global semiconductor chip shortage Lookers has outperformed the market by around 3.4 percentage points. Despite the dip the company has said it is expecting profit [...]
Tesco hikes profit forecasts and launches share buyback programme October 6, 2021 Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket, has hiked its forecasts for full year profits and kicked off a share buyback programme. Stronger than expected demand for the food retailer’s products prompted it to raise expectations for retail operating profits to between £2.5bn and £2.6bn. Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco, said: “We’ve had a strong six [...]