UK supermarkets win ATM business rates legal battle May 20, 2020 UK supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Co-op will not have to pay business rates on ATMs at their stores after winning a long-running legal battle. The Supreme Court judged today that retailers were not liable to pay business rates on ATMs inside or outside stores. The ruling against the Valuation Office Agency will result in [...]
FTSE 100 breaks 6,000 barrier as vaccine hopes and Fed pledge boost markets May 18, 2020 The FTSE 100 broke through the 6,000-point milestone in a positive start to the week’s trading today, buoyed by hopes of a vaccine and more Federal Reserve stimulus. Easing lockdowns and lower infection rates in Europe infection hotspots Italy, the UK and Spain also boosted London’s blue-chip index. The FTSE 100 closed 4.5 per cent [...]
Tesco bosses receive bonus boost after Ocado removed from competitor list May 14, 2020 Tesco bosses received a bonus boost last year after the grocer removed online supermarket Ocado from a list of competitors. Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis would have missed out on around £1.6m in shares if the online rival had remained on the list used to compare Tesco’s performance against its competitors. Before Ocado was removed, [...]
O2 and Virgin Media confirm merger to create £31bn telecoms player May 7, 2020 O2 and Virgin Media have confirmed a merger to form a multi-play broadband giant that would be valued at a combined total of £31.4bn. The pair pledged to invest £10bn into the UK over the next five years while saving £6.2bn through combined synergies, or £540m a year five years after the merger completes. But [...]
McColl’s finance chief departs for Holland & Barrett May 6, 2020 The chief financial officer of McColl’s Retail Group will step down to join health food retailer Holland & Barrett, the convenience store chain announced this morning. McColl’s said Robbie Bell had resigned to take up the finance chief role at Holland & Barrett. The company has launched a search for a successor, saying Bell will [...]
Tesco expands online order capacity to 1m slots a week during coronavirus crisis April 28, 2020 Tesco has expanded its online shopping capacity to 1m slots, almost double the number of orders the supermarket was able to fulfil before the coronavirus crisis. The grocer, which previously had between 500,000 and 600,000 slots available each week, will expand its capacity further to 1.2m orders per week as demand for deliveries continues to [...]
Shoppers spend extra £524m at UK supermarkets in April April 28, 2020 Shoppers spent an extra £524m at UK supermarkets during the coronavirus lockdown compared to April last year. Grocery sales soared 9.1 per cent in the 12 weeks to 19 April, which were £524m higher in the past four weeks than they were in April 2019. Households made a record low 14 trips to UK supermarkets [...]
Opinion: Supermarkets look a good bet April 20, 2020 The received wisdom at present is that UK property capital markets have pretty much gone into suspended animation in the face of the pandemic, but this certainly isn’t the case in the grocery-led sector. There are currently seven substantial supermarket transactions totalling around £205m which are either under offer or due to imminently complete. And [...]
Coronavirus: When are supermarket opening times for NHS and pensioners? April 17, 2020 As the UK heads into lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak, supermarkets have enforced tighter restrictions and changed opening hours. Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday ordered all “non-essential” shops to close, leaving supermarkets one of the few stores to remain open. In recent weeks supermarkets have struggled to keep shelves replenished as consumers embarked on [...]
Coronavirus: SMEs will need more than a slow-moving loan scheme to recover April 17, 2020 Britain was once disparagingly described as a nation of shopkeepers and now, over two centuries later, small, and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the British economy. According to the Federation of Small Businesses, SMEs account for the vast majority of the UK business population; three fifths of employment and around half of the UK’s [...]