Supermarket surge after top boss bows out boosts FTSE 100 – London Report January 13, 2015 MORRISONS’ surge buoyed the FTSE 100 yesterday, after the grocer announced that its chief executive had been shown the door following its poor performance during the busy Christmas trading season. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.6 per cent at 6,542.20 points at the close. But weaker commodity stocks on the back of fresh [...]
Is Waterstones about to buy Tesco’s Blinkbox Books? January 13, 2015 Another portion of Tesco’s failed venture Blinkbox could be about to be carved off and sold on. Waterstones looks set to buy Blinkbox books, after Tesco sold Blinkbox Movies to TalkTalk and Blinkbox Music to Guvera. Tesco made the decision to sell Blinkbox as part of a turnaround plan aimed, unsurprisingly, at reversing the poor [...]
Asda overtaken by Sainsbury’s as UK’s second largest supermarket but big four continue to slide January 13, 2015 Asda has lost its title as the second largest supermarket in the UK to Sainsbury's, while discounters Aldi and Lidl continue making gains on the big four. Of the big four – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – sales fell by the smallest amount at Sainsbury’s, down 0.7 per cent. This helped it regain second place [...]
Sainsbury’s axes 500 jobs as part of cost-cutting drive January 13, 2015 Sainsbury's has announced plans to axe 500 jobs as part of a cost-cutting exercise, as the UK supermarket battle continues to heat up. Sainsbury's, which is the UK's second largest supermarket, said the job cuts would be across "all divisions and grades in our store support centres". A consultation on the job losses will start [...]
Morrisons: Share price jumps as chief executive Dalton Philips resigns, while Andrew Higginson steps up January 13, 2015 Shares in Morrisons bounced six per cent in early trading, after it announced chief executive Dalton Philips will step down after five years at the helm, while Andrew Higginson, an ex-Tesco executive, will take over from chairman Sir Ian Gibson later this month. Philips will stay on until the company's end of year results in [...]
Tesco to scale back presence in Hungary January 12, 2015 TESCO said yesterday it is to shut 13 stores in Hungary “to secure the profitability” of its local business as the beleaguered retailer continues on its cost-cutting drive. The supermarket giant has over 200 stores in Hungary, where it has operated since 1995 and has grown to be its third-largest employer serving 3m customers. But [...]
Petrol price cut by 2p as big four supermarkets fuel price war brings £1 a lite petrol ever closer January 12, 2015 There seems to be no let-up in the supermarket fuel price war as another wave of cuts to the price of petrol was announced on Monday. The big four supermarkets are all slicing 2p off their petrol and diesel. Unfortunately for motorists, the supermarkets are still some way off being able to retail for below [...]
Tesco to shut stores in Hungary in cost-cutting drive January 12, 2015 Tesco is to close 13 stores in Hungary in a bid to secure the long-term profitability of its local operations. The beleaguered supermarket is in recovery mode after a devastating year marked by profit warnings, high-profile departures and a plummeting share price which fell to its lowest point for a decade. Tesco still [...]
At last – 99p petrol is here… in Birmingham January 12, 2015 Motorists can finally fill up their tanks for less than £1 a litre – as long as they’re prepared to drive to the Midlands. The bargain petrol went on sale at the Harvest Energy service station in Birmingham for 99.7p. The motoring organisation RAC said the price was the lowest it had seen in the [...]
Best of the Brokers for 12 January 2015 January 11, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com HILTON FOOD GROUP Numis reiterated its “buy” rating following a “very satisfactory” full year update. The broker noted that “everything is on track”, including the firm’s Tesco-related expansion, and pointed to good progress in its Australian joint venture. Target price is unchanged at [...]