Vince Cable writes to supermarket regulator over Tesco’s fractious relationship with suppliers November 5, 2014 At some point in the past few weeks, Business Secretary Vince Cable wrote to the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) to voice his concerns about the supplier base of troubled supermarket Tesco, according to Sky News. Cable is believed to told the GCA that he supports a comprehensive review of Tesco's relationship with suppliers and whether [...]
Marks & Spencer’s half year results – here’s what to look out for November 4, 2014 Marks & Spencer is due to report its first half results tomorrow morning, and the consensus is that it will be another gloomy one for the venerable British retailer. Analysts are saying the 770-store retailer will have racked up a 3.7 per cent decline in general merchandising like-for-likes during its second quarter. If [...]
Tesco loses out to Germans discounter Schwarz Beteiligungs in global market as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Seven and I remain on top November 3, 2014 Battered retailer Tesco is losing market share on the global stage as German discount chains continue to steal ground from the British giant, researchers at Euromonitor International said today. Tesco has now been bumped from fourth-largest retail chain in the world into fifth place by German value group Schwarz Beteiligungs. Its dominant position in the [...]
Marks and Spencer likely to join Next and Tesco in slump as like-for-like sales decline November 3, 2014 The slump in British retail is set to hit Marks and Spencer hard this week, after poor financial results from rival Next and supermarket Tesco. Weak sales figures will pile increasing pressure on chief executive Marc Bolland – like-for-like sales have already fallen for the past 13 quarters, despite the growing economic recovery. The consensus [...]
Subtle signals are crucial in business November 2, 2014 Even the smallest actions can make a huge impression – think carefully before asking questions. Subtle signals exist in all of our interactions, and the best businesspeople have a firm command over the messages they are sending. New Tesco boss Dave Lewis, for example, quickly decided to sell the firm’s fleet of private [...]
From Danish sperm and Ukip voters to banking stress tests and Tesco’s criminal probe: 10 things we learned this week October 31, 2014 There was plenty keeping us busy this week, and not all of it was Halloween related. What were the top 10 things we learned? 1. An inadvertent comment by a Royal Bank of Canada employee cost the firm several million dollars. The bank had been working on the record-breaking Alibaba IPO but voluntarily withdrew [...]
Why did Tesco’s share price barely register the SFO criminal investigation? October 30, 2014 Not only did Tesco's share price hardly move when it was confirmed that the Serious Fraud Office had launched a formal criminal investigation into the supermarket, it actually ended the day higher. It closed 1.4 per cent up at 173.3p per share yesterday, with the SFO announcement registering as a minor blip in what, [...]
Pumpkin shortage threatens to ruin Halloween October 30, 2014 If you've left it until today to pick up a pumpkin to carve for Halloween, you might be out of luck. Owing to what farmers have described as the worst harvest in years, some shops have started reporting that they have sold out of the seasonal squash. Apparently it is this year's wet [...]
Fraud squad to probe Tesco’s accounting hole October 29, 2014 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office (SFO) announced yesterday that it would take over from the Financial Conduct Authority in investigating a £263m hole in troubled Tesco’s accounts. The retail giant previously said the profits had been overstated due to erroneous timings in accounting for supplier rebates. It is the latest major case to land on the SFO’s plate, [...]
Intertek leads the way as FTSE buoyed by data – London Report October 29, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index yesterday rose to its highest level in nearly three weeks on the expectation that the US Federal Reserve would signal that it was in no rush to raise interest rates. However, late last night – after the London close – investors elsewhere in the world were betting that a US rate [...]