Hilton agrees Australian venture January 10, 2013 Hilton Food, the meat packing company which supplies major retailers including Tesco, yesterday reported a “solid” performance in the UK and Ireland last year and said that it had performed in line with board expectations. The group, which is due to publish its full-year results in March, also announced it is stepping up its expansion [...]
Profit-taking cannot halt FTSE as it hits highest close since May 2008 January 10, 2013 BRITAIN’S top share index closed above the 6,100 resistance level for the first time since 22 May 2008, yesterday, recovering from a late wobble after a choppy trading session. The FTSE 100 index was up 2.86 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 6,101,51, having seen some late profit-taking erased in the closing auction, but the [...]
FTSE 100 edges up as retailers in spotlight January 10, 2013 After hitting a four-year high during trading yesterday, the FTSE 100 continued its momentum this morning and was trading modestly up, with supermarket giant Tesco an early leader. This morning the supermarket posted its strongest UK growth over three years, as it said like for like UK sales were up by 1.8 per cent over [...]
Tesco enjoys Christmas sales boost January 10, 2013 Supermarket giant Tesco this morning posted its highest UK sales growth in three years over the Christmas period, as its turnaround plan is starting to kick in. Like for like UK sales grew by 1.8 per cent in the six weeks to 5 January, driven by a strong performance from its food division and from [...]
Banking and mining shares drive FTSE to highest level since May ‘08 January 9, 2013 BRITAIN’S blue-chip stocks hit their highest level since May 2008 yesterday, with gains led by banking stocks and miners after a reassuring start to the US earnings season boosted demand for riskier assets. The FTSE 100 broke through a near two-year high at 6,105.77 in afternoon trade, following a strong opening on Wall Street, peaking [...]
Sainsbury’s takes the lead at Christmas January 8, 2013 SAINSBURY posted the highest sales growth of the so called big four grocers in the run-up to Christmas and was the only one to grow market share, data revealed yesterday. Figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed Britain’s grocery market grew 3.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 23 December, with the strongest growth at the [...]
Aldi hitting the mainstream as customers seek value January 8, 2013 THIS time last year poor results at Tesco shocked investors and the grocery sector, although followers of YouGov’s BrandIndex and this column would have been aware of their problems a month earlier. With the all-important Christmas season now behind us I’ve taken a look back at 2012 to see what the big customer perception stories [...]
Tesco attracts investor support as it defends use of private planes January 7, 2013 TESCO’s fleet of private jets, used to ferry its executives around the globe, has been laid bare for the first time as a leading City figure sprang to defend the firm over the use of the planes. The supermarket giant, which reveals its much-anticipated Christmas trading figures on Thursday, operates a subsidiary, Kansas Transportation, to [...]
Grocers set to unveil festive trading figures January 7, 2013 TESCO is expected to emerge as the winner of a tough Christmas trading period for Britain’s big four supermarkets as weak consumer confidence, falling real incomes and rising real prices put pressure on the sector. Analysts predict the grocer will on Thursday post a one per cent rise in UK like-for-like sales for the six [...]
January Bank rates are likely to stay steady January 7, 2013 THE European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to keep interest rates on hold when it meets for its first policy meeting this year, analysts predict. “We believe the continued improvement in the forward-looking survey data will have been sufficient to stay the hand of those on the council who last month were willing to wait [...]