Tesco puts its US chain into bankruptcy September 30, 2013 TESCO put its US grocery store chain into bankruptcy yesterday as part of a plan to sell most of the 167 stores to a private equity firm led by billionaire Ron Burkle. Under the proposed sale, an affiliate of Tesco will lend Burkle’s private equity firm Yucaipa $120m to help fund the takeover of the [...]
London Report: UK data to show the economy in healthier state September 29, 2013 EXPECTED improvements in the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data for manufacturing, construction and services this week should all point to further signs of the UK’s economic growth. “The purchasing managers’ surveys are expected to show further robust growth in September across the services, manufacturing and construction sectors which would bode well for hopes that GDP [...]
Supermarkets in fuel pricing wars September 26, 2013 THE SUPERMARKET price war on petrol escalated yesterday, when some of Britain’s largest chains slashed costs for the second time in a matter of days and Sainsbury’s became the latest grocer to enter the fray. Asda said that it would cut unleaded petrol by 3p to 128.7p per litre and diesel by 2p to 135.7p [...]
Barclays wins Amec as latest broking client September 25, 2013 BARCLAYS continued the growth of its corporate broking business by winning the mandate to act as joint broker to Amec, the FTSE 100 listed engineering group, alongside Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML). The appointment comes just days after Amec abandoned plans to make a £700m bid for Kentz, the oil services group. Amec was [...]
Best of the Brokers for 26 September 2013 September 25, 2013 GREENCORE Numis has given food company Greencore an “add” recommendation and lifted its target price to 153p ahead of its 26 November full year report. The analyst said plus points include “the absence of the horse meat issue and possible improvement from UK cakes & desserts.” TESCO Shares in Tesco fell 3.5 per cent yesterday, [...]
London Report: Slide in energy shares helps to drive FTSE down September 25, 2013 BRITAIN’S top shares fell yesterday, led down by Carnival after a profit warning triggered downgrades, while Centrica and SSE fell after the opposition Labour Party talked of an energy price freeze. Carnival slid 6.7 per cent to 2,098.26 pence, the FTSE 100’s top faller for the second session in a row, after Tuesday’s warning of [...]
Trouble ahead for Tesco as JP Morgan downgrades supermarket September 25, 2013 Tesco have been downgraded to underweight by J.P. Morgan. The supermarket is expected to underpeform due to structural changes in the UK food industry which may have a particularly damaging effect on Tesco. According to JP Morgan's Jaime Vazquez: In our view, pricing architecture is an industry problem, but is of most concern to Tesco [...]
Waitrose and discounters thriving September 24, 2013 DISCOUNT supermarket Aldi saw year-on-year sales growth of a record 32.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to 15 September, according to new industry data, as upmarket rival Waitrose also upped market share. Waitrose achieved growth of 9.7 per cent year-on-year, Kantar Worldpanel said, well above market growth of 4.2 per cent. But Tesco, which [...]
Labour’s plot to hike corporation tax is short-sighted nonsense September 23, 2013 WHAT, exactly, does the Labour party think it is doing? It wants to hike – yes, hike – corporation tax if it is elected in 2015, the latest of a long list of utterly destructive policies unveiled in recent days. The idea is that this will “pay” for a freeze in business rates on small [...]
Tesco enters the tablet market with £119 Hudl September 23, 2013 GROCERY giant Tesco unveiled its first foray into the consumer electronics market yesterday with the £119 Hudl tablet. Tesco said launching a tablet is an important step, “meeting the 21st century needs of customers”. The tablet’s price point missed analyst’s expectations, coming in above the £99 that was predicted last week. While the launch will [...]