Why breakfast staples could be about to get more expensive April 23, 2014 The surge in coffee futures documented over the last couple of weeks isn’t the only thing that could up the cost of breakfast. A Brazilian drought, which significantly damaged crops, is pushing up prices. Changes will most likely felt by global wholesalers over the next couple of months as harvests begin, says Thomas Pugh, a [...]
Tesco steps up assault with more price cuts April 22, 2014 TESCO yesterday launched a fresh round of price cuts and slashed its online shopping charges as it steps up its efforts to stop customers defecting to its discount rivals. The retailer dropped prices on over 30 products yesterday including bacon, sugar, broccoli and some of its bread ranges. The price of six Tesco free-range medium [...]
Best of the Brokers for 22 April 2014 April 21, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com TESCO HSBC cuts its forecasts on the supermarket by 11 per cent for this year as UK like-for-like sales and margins appear to be sliding further, and has advised Tesco to consider withdrawing from parts of Europe. The broker keeps its “underweight” rating [...]
City & Gild: How Tesco can make us fall back in love with its brand April 17, 2014 Tesco’s current strategy worries me enormously, especially off the back of a six per cent fall in profits. Chief executive Philip Clarke has confidently explained, “Tesco will be firmly established as a middle-market retailer, which offers low prices and good quality – all under one roof”. My translation of this is essentially, “we’re going to [...]
Bottom Line: Focus on staying number one at home April 16, 2014 BELEAGUERED Tesco boss Philip Clarke has declared he isn’t going anywhere. Unfortunately, on his watch, neither is the nation’s favourite supermarket. After twenty years of rising profits for the group, this is the second year in a row where they have fallen. Pre-tax profits were down 6.9 per cent: 7.7 per cent in constant exchange [...]
More price cuts in store as profit slides at Tesco April 16, 2014 TESCO boss Philip Clarke said yesterday he had no intention of leaving as the supermarket giant posted a second year of falling profits and revealed large writedowns across its international businesses. Dismissing reports that he was under pressure from investors to step down, Clarke said: “I have got no intention of going anywhere. All my [...]
Eagle Eye jumps on float and closes its £4.5m 2ergo takeover April 16, 2014 RETAIL and hospitality voucher firm Eagle Eye Solutions, where former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is an investor and director, saw its shares jump almost 10 per cent to 180p during its first day of trading yesterday. Eagle Eye raised £6m from its oversubscribed placing on London’s Alternative Investment Market, hitting a £36m valuation. “Today’s [...]
London Report: China data and bullish retailers drive FTSE rally April 16, 2014 THE UK’S benchmark stock index rose yesterday after Chinese economic data came in a touch above forecasts, with Tesco rising on aggressive strategy plans and Sports Direct surging on a bullish note about the company. The sportswear retailer surged 5.6 per cent to the lead FTSE 100 gainers. Traders cited a note from Bank of [...]
The real casualties of the supermarket price wars April 16, 2014 The threat posed by the hard discounters on Britain’s big four retailers has been well documented. Tesco’s chief executive Philip Clarke today described his discount rivals as “formidable” as he announced further plans to slash prices beyond the £200m already set aside in February. But new research shows that the biggest unrecognised casualties of the [...]
What you need to know before the open April 16, 2014 European bourses are expected to open higher today. After a very choppy day yesterday, US markets closed up, despite Russian claims that Ukraine’s “close to civil war”. Weak GDP data from China – growth slowed to 7.4 per cent in the first quarter – could add jitters to markets, though, but there's also UK unemployment [...]