Tesco sales fall for fourth quarter in a row December 8, 2011 Tesco, the world’s No. 3 retailer, posted a drop in underlying British sales for the fourth quarter in a row on Thursday, overshadowing a more solid performance in its overseas markets. The firm, which takes about one in every 10 pounds spent in British shops, said sales at British stores open over a year, excluding [...]
Lawsuit sinks Henderson shares December 7, 2011 Shares in asset manager Henderson Group dropped 3.4 per cent to 114p yesterday, after sinking to 112p during the day, after it was revealed a group of pension funds is suing the firm over the handling of its investment in construction firm John Laing in 2006. The group is thought to include the BBC, Tesco [...]
Indian retail reform plans put on hold December 7, 2011 INDIA has suspended plans to open its $450bn (£286bn) supermarket sector to foreign firms such as Wal-Mart, backtracking from one of the government’s boldest reforms in years in the face of a huge political backlash. The retreat, within two weeks of the policy being mooted, is another nail in the coffin of Prime Minister Manmohan [...]
Price war cut food inflation December 6, 2011 CUSTOMERS are benefiting from intense competition between supermarkets, according to data out today from the British Retail Consortium. Food price inflation fell for a second consecutive month to 4.0 per cent in the year to November, compared with 4.2 per cent in October. Overall shop prices rose 2.0 per cent in the twelve-month period, down [...]
Henderson in legal row December 6, 2011 A GROUP of pension funds is suing asset manager Henderson over the handling of its investment in construction firm John Laing in 2006. The full list is not yet known but the pension funds of the BBC, Tesco, BAE Systems and Bupa, as well as Kent and South Tyneside councils, were among those known to [...]
Christmas trading is slow at Metro as it issues profit alert December 6, 2011 METRO, the world’s fourth-biggest retailer, issued a profit warning that sent shockwaves through the sector yesterday, saying Christmas trading had started slowly and the Eurozone debt crisis was undermining consumer confidence. Shares in the German group, which runs cash and carries, hypermarkets, electrical goods and department stores, slumped over 13 per cent. “We feel the [...]
Amazon launches its video on demand service Lovefilm on Microsoft’s Xbox December 6, 2011 LOVEFILM, Europe’s largest subscription service, today becomes available on Microsoft’s video games console Xbox. The company, which was originally established in May 2002 as Online Rentals Limited and was acquired by Amazon in February 2011, has traditionally operated as a mail-order DVD rental service. However, in the last two years Lovefilm has enabled its customers [...]
Former Tesco boss cuts till rolls December 4, 2011 Lord MacLaurin, the former chief executive and chairman of Tesco, is investing in a British start-up championing paper-less receipts. MacLaurin, who helped pioneer Tesco’s Clubcard, is backing Paperless Receipts, which sends digital receipts to personalised websites.
A warning from the future: Don’t bank on old ways December 4, 2011 FOR banks, the path of lowest possible risk is to continue doing what they’ve always done; however this would be a grave mistake, as Alan Hughes wrote in the Forum last week [The challenge to banks: Who will lead on service, Wednesday]. Not only is service important, as Hughes argues, but with technology shifting the [...]
THE TIPSTER December 4, 2011 WHEN Victrex reports its earnings on Tuesday, analysts are expecting revenues of around £93m, up from £75m this time last year. The maker of polymers’s shares have slid 27 per cent from their highs in July of 1,600p, but it looks like it is on the way back from lows of 1,020p. Strong gains and [...]