Why Engawa is an unusually well thought-out restaurant March 17, 2015 In Japan, the fax machine is still king of the office. While the western hemisphere abandoned it at the first whiff of email, the Japanese persevered, appreciating the personal touch that comes from a hand-written note, even if that note has been broken down into a series of blips and hisses and reassembled somewhere far [...]
Sainsbury’s share price dips despite sales falling less than expected March 17, 2015 The figures Shares in Sainsbury's were trading down 1.1 per cent at 265 pence per share in late-afternoon trade today. They had initially opened more than two per cent higher this morning. The supermarket announced like-for-like retail sales including fuel fell 3.9 per cent in the 10 weeks to 14 March on price deflation and greater [...]
Tesco share price slides as Sir Martin Sorrell confirms WPP’s Dunnhumby interest March 17, 2015 Sir Martin Sorrell, the boss of the world’s largest advertising group WPP, has confirmed the company is interested in buying Tesco’s data arm Dunnhumby. Speaking at the Media & Telecoms conference in London, Sorrell said he was interested in the business behind the supermarket’s Clubcard loyalty scheme which was essentially put up for sale in [...]
BHS confirms new chief executive is Darren Topp as the retailer makes transition to new owners March 17, 2015 BHS has confirmed Darren Topp as its interim chief executive, following the departure of long-standing head Richard Price. Topp has been at BHS for six years, and steps up from his current role as chief operating officer with immediate effect. The change at the top comes just days after the department store chain [...]
FTSE boosted by miners on good Chinese figures – London Report March 16, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index rebounded yesterday after its biggest weekly drop of 2015, with mining stocks boosting the market on expectations of steady economic growth in China, the world’s biggest metals consumer. The FTSE 100 closed 0.9 per cent higher at 6,804.08 points after dropping 2.5 per cent last week in what was its biggest [...]
Tesco share price spikes as Dunnhumby sale speculation mounts March 16, 2015 Tesco shares spiked four per cent in afternoon trading amid mounting speculation of a potential sale of its lucrative data business Dunnhumby. A deal, which could be worth as much as £2bn to the supermarket according to analysts, is moving ahead, with WPP and a host of private equity firms vying for the data company [...]
Tesco’s Dunnhumby: Is Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP about to take a stake in the supermarket’s data business? March 15, 2015 Tesco could be about to sell off a majority stake in its data arm that was responsible for creating the Tesco Clubcard loyalty scheme. The world’s largest advertising firm, Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP, has made an offer for Tesco's Dunnhumby, Bloomberg reports. Tesco brought in Goldman Sachs in January to explore options for Dunnhumby as [...]
Morrisons could cut dividend as earnings slump March 12, 2015 THE DAUNTING task facing the new boss of Morrisons was illustrated on yesterday when UK’s fourth biggest supermarket reported its lowest annual profit in eight years and warned investors it would cut its dividend. The profit slump, a third straight decline, reflects Morrisons’ decision last year to spend £1bn on price cuts over three years [...]
Morrisons share price falls as it announces 23 store closures after losses mount and sales drop March 12, 2015 A bad morning for Morrisons. The supermarket announced it will close 23 stores and cutting its future dividend pay-out after reporting a large full-year loss and falling quarterly sales. Shares in the retailer opened one per cent down this morning. The trading environment is a tough one, Morrisons said, and it isn’t expected to get [...]
Tesco recovers from 18 months of slow sales March 10, 2015 TESCO has posted its strongest performance in 18 months, with sales up 1.1 per cent compared with 2014, according to industry data for the 12 weeks ending 1 March. The latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel suggest that the major overhaul of strategy at the UK’s biggest retailer by new chief executive Dave Lewis [...]