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 [...]
Tesco delays launch of current account February 6, 2012 TESCO Bank will not launch its current account in 2012 as expected, hitting the government’s attempts to shake up the notoriously uncompetitive retail banking market. The supermarket’s financial services arm had planned to unveil its flagship product this year but is now set to launch at the end of 2013. The delay will allow the [...]
Tesco moves UK exec who sold shares February 1, 2012 SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has moved Bob Robbins from his role as UK chief operating officer three weeks after it was revealed he sold stock ahead of a profit warning, according to an internal announcement yesterday. The announcement said Robbins, who has held the UK COO role since March 2011, will work directly for group chief [...]
California calls for customer expert January 31, 2012 It has been a turbulent few years for John Browett since taking over the reins as Dixons’ chief executive in 2007. No sooner was he poached from Tesco – where he was in charge of building the supermarket’s fast-growing online business– than the recession hit and Browett was faced with a battle to secure the [...]
Tesco’s slice of market shrinks January 31, 2012 SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has seen its market share fall under 30 per cent for the first time in almost seven years as it struggled to recover from its dire Christmas trading performance, according to new data from Kantar Worldpanel. Tesco’s market share – based on a measure of how much money has gone through its [...]