Tesco changes tack on job scheme February 21, 2012 Supermarket giant Tesco yesterday agreed to start paying young people taking part in the government’s work experience scheme, in a bid to halt growing complaints about the programme. Tesco had been advertising long-term, unpaid positions for those on jobseekers’ allowance.
ASDA sales growth slows February 21, 2012 Supermarket firm Asda suffered a slowdown in sales growth as shoppers were squeezed by rising prices and muted wages growth. Britain’s second-biggest supermarket chain said today that sales at stores open over a year, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, rose 1 per cent in the fourteen weeks to 7 January. Asda said underlying sales [...]
Surprise loss for Ageas on write-downs February 20, 2012 BELGIAN insurer Ageas announced an unexpected fourth quarter loss of €44.5m (£37m) yesterday as it wrote down the value of its Hong Kong operation and took a €124m hit on the value of its Greek bond holdings. Without these impairments its insurance division would have turned a full year profit of €595m, the firm said. [...]
Tesco launches float of its Thailand property fund to raise up to £369m February 20, 2012 TESCO, the world’s third-largest retailer, launched the initial public offering of its Thailand property fund yesterday, aiming to raise up to £369m to finance future expansion. The offering is part of a trend among retailers in recent years to squeeze more value from their real estate assets, bundling them into a property fund, selling the [...]
MINISTER SLAMS JOB SNOB CRITICS February 20, 2012 CHRIS Grayling, the employment minister, yesterday rounded on critics of the government’s work experience programme, describing them as “job snobs”. He was speaking in response to opponents of the scheme who branded it “21st century slavery” and “forced labour” after it emerged Tesco had offered an unpaid placement stacking shelves in its supermarkets. The scheme [...]
Banks face new threat of break up February 16, 2012 BRITISH retail banks must act fast to encourage competition or face the threat of being broken up, a leading regulator has warned. John Fingleton, head of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), yesterday said he would contemplate asking for a Competition Commission investigation into the sector unless there was a “step change” in the way [...]
BT latest to plan legal service as claims business applies for Tesco law licence February 16, 2012 TELECOMS giant BT is muscling in on the legal sector after confirming yesterday that its claims management division has applied to become an alternative business structure under the so-called Tesco law. Wholly-owned subsidiary BT Claims currently just handles claims related to its parent group’s corporate vehicles, but if a licence is granted plans to roll [...]
Tesco’s market share takes a fresh tumble February 15, 2012 TESCO endured a double blow yesterday, as it suffered a fresh drop in UK market share in the latest Nielsen figures, and set a leaving date for its long-standing director Andrew Higginson. The supermarket giant’s share of the UK grocery market fell 0.5 percentage points on a year ago in the three months to 4 [...]
FTSE hits six-month high fuelled by Greek deal February 13, 2012 The FTSE 100 climbed 0.9 per cent to a six-month high of 5,905.7 as investors’ confidence was buoyed by Greek politicians finally approving a new set of austerity measures. However, the move triggered civil unrest on the streets of Athens with the most violent clashes since the country’s disastrous financial situation was laid bare. The [...]
Retail gloom takes toll on British Land February 9, 2012 BRITISH LAND has seen growth of its net asset value stall in the third quarter as the ongoing consumer downturn led to a slight dip in value across its retail portfolio. The landlord – whose tenants include Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Debenhams – said its retail estate, which accounts for 61 per cent of its property [...]