Tesco snaps up Andy McNab’s ebook platform September 4, 2012 TESCO yesterday stepped up its digital expansion as it spent £4.5m on Mobcast, the digital book platform provider co-founded by SAS veteran and best-selling war novelist Andy McNab. The deal comes hot on the heels of Tesco taking a 91 per cent stake in the internet radio service We7 in June and its acquisition of [...]
Lloyds ploughs £20m into new restaurant fund September 3, 2012 LLOYDS Banking Group’s private equity arm said yesterday it has agreed to provide £20m for a new restaurant fund set up by the former boss of The Clapham House Group. Paul Campbell is setting up the fund through his vehicle Hill Capital in partnership with LDC to invest in restaurant businesses with a small number [...]
Supermarkets enjoy a rare lift during summer September 3, 2012 THE RETURN of the warmer summer weather together with the Olympics and the use of vouchers helped grocers enjoy their best trading performance of the year last month, in a rare bright spot amid the gloom across the rest of the retail industry. According to the latest figures from Nielsen, grocery sales in the four [...]
Best of the Brokers September 3, 2012 ADMIRAL Credit Suisse has cut the insurance firm’s target price to 1250p from 1300p and downgraded its recommendation to “neutral” from “outperform”. The note cited weak car growth. MORRISON Nomura’s rating of the supermarket giant has been slashed to “neutral” from “buy” while the target price is down to 300p from 350p. A refocused Tesco [...]
Sainsbury’s teams up with Rovi to join internet movie market August 23, 2012 J SAINSBURY has become the latest player to enter the on-demand film streaming market, teaming up with US technology firm Rovi to launch an online rental service to rival Sky’s Now TV, Netflix and Lovefilm. The supermarket, which also started a music download service earlier in the year, says it will offer films on a [...]
Private equity-backed Parabis to expand using new Tesco Law August 22, 2012 INSURANCE specialist Parabis has become the first private equity-backed firm to take advantage of the so-called Tesco Law reforms, after winning a licence to use the Alternative Business Structure (ABS) yesterday. Parabis is the 20th company to be granted an ABS licence since the law market was liberalised last year. The company hopes to expand [...]
Tesco faces illegal worker fines August 20, 2012 SUPERMARKET giant Tesco may be hit with fines after the UK Border Agency (UKBA) found it was employing foreign students for more hours than allowed by their visas. Twenty students were arrested in a 3am raid on a Croydon warehouse where employees work on fulfilling internet orders. Tesco faces fines of up to £10,000 per [...]
The cigarette display ban is a smoking gun in the war on free expression August 20, 2012 THERE’S something odd about my local Tesco. Since April, the kiosk at the entrance has looked incredibly dull. As I was recently trying to work out why, I saw a sign saying that all cigarettes and tobacco-related products must now be hidden behind closed doors – to comply with UK regulations. As an economist, I [...]
Supermarkets hold talks with government on Sunday trading August 19, 2012 RETAILERS have been holding discussions with the government and trade bodies over the permanent relaxation of Sunday trading rules, it was revealed yesterday. Current rules limit large shops to six hours of trading between 10am and 6pm on a Sunday. This has been temporarily relaxed during the Olympics and it is thought communities secretary Eric [...]
Discount chains lead sales jump August 14, 2012 GROCERS enjoyed a sunny summer with sales growth almost across the board, but led by discount supermarkets, said analyst Kantar Worldpanel yesterday. Grocery sales at the UK’s main stores grew 3.9 per cent as a whole in the 12 weeks to 5 August, compared to a year earlier, reaching nearly £24bn in total. Though discounters [...]