Mothercare jumps on Tesco takeover talk January 20, 2014 Talk of renewed interest from Tesco in languishing Mothercare have seen stocks in the baby care and clothes retailer jump over five per cent. Reports that the supermarket has rekindled its interest in launching a takeover bid follow an announcement by Mothercare earlier this month that its full-year profits would be half what analysts were [...]
Mothercare is said to be in the sights of retailing giant Tesco January 19, 2014 TESCO considered a bid for mother and baby products retailer Mothercare to help reinvigorate its supermarkets, the Sunday Times reported. Citing retail sources, the newspaper said Tesco examined a bid six months ago but has put the plan on hold. However, the recent fall in Mothercare’s share price could rekindle Tesco’s plan according to the [...]
Shoe repair business Timpson launches its thousandth store January 19, 2014 FAMILY-OWNED shoe repair business Timpson is opening its thousandth shop today in Wrexham, North Wales, as the company’s expansion plans gather momentum. Timpson will be renting the space at a Tesco site, a spokesperson from the supermarket chain told City A.M. The unit is part of a joint venture between Timpson and Tesco. It will [...]
UK retail sales increase at strongest rate since February 2010 in December January 17, 2014 Christmas was a pretty mixed bag for some retailers, but figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the squeeze on consumers is easing, and they were able to make the most of bargain and discount shopping. December retail sales jumped 5.3 per cent from a year earlier, up 2.6 per cent in the [...]
These festive victors have found a way of winning online and in store January 16, 2014 Argos, Primark, Halfords, Homebase, Dixons and Ocado: the raft companies who saw sales leap over the Christmas period, and present a stark contrast to the big names (M&S, Tesco and Morrisons) that reported gloomy – and sometimes grim – results last week. It's become something of a cliche to keep emphasising the need for transition [...]
Inside Track: The EU’s rules to cap bankers’ bonuses aren’t working January 15, 2014 CREATE a loophole and bankers will leap through it quicker than you can say “deferred compensation”: that seems to be one of the axioms of the aftermath of the financial crisis. Examine the consequences of the European Commission’s cap on the multiple of salaries that banks can dish out in variable pay, though, and the [...]
Banking competition is already fierce – but technology will intensify it further January 15, 2014 FOR ALL the talk of competition in banking, ask yourself: have you ever felt that there is not a product for you on the market? Or that your choices are constrained? I have a current account with the same bank my family has used for years. But when it comes to my savings, I shamelessly [...]
Shoppers set to spend 17 per cent more in 2014 January 15, 2014 Online retail sales for 2013 have thumped expectations – as spending jumped by 16 per cent to £91bn compared with the previous year and now accounting for almost a quarter (21 per cent) of the total retail market. Those are from the latest online retail findings ofIMRG and Capgemini, which were revealed today at a [...]
A DIY investment price war could be on the way January 15, 2014 Imagine if Sainsbury’s or Tesco made you pay to enter their supermarkets and buy their milk and bread, but promised that the milk and bread would be much cheaper than before. That slightly dystopian vision is what occurred to UK money management industry last year, after regulators decided the relationship between suppliers and distributors was [...]
Morrisons loses market share to its competitors January 14, 2014 WM MORRISON’S troubles over Christmas were further underscored yesterday by figures that showed that the grocer was the only one of the big four supermarkets to suffer a fall in overall sales in the past 12 weeks. Kantar Worldpanel data showed the retailer’s market share dropped to 11.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to [...]