WANTED: STEADY HAND AT THE TILL November 19, 2009 THE departure of Wm Morrison boss Marc Bolland won’t blow the supermarket off course, retail experts said yesterday as the Bradford-based company posted another set of strong sales figures and customer growth. With Bolland sidelined ahead of taking the reins at Marks & Spencer in January, finance director Richard Pennycook took responsibility for yesterday’s trading [...]
Tesco pushes into broadband as drive beyond groceries continues November 19, 2009 TESCO has set its sights on capturing a bigger slice of the broadband and home phones market as part of a drive to increase revenues from more profitable non-grocery markets. The supermarket group said it had agreed a five-year deal with Cable & Wireless for the telecoms firm to supply it wholesale broadband services. This [...]
Tesco to tie up with C&W November 19, 2009 Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket, is set to spark a price-war in the telecoms sector when it ties up with Cable & Wireless. The new venture will threaten rivals BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse. The tie-up is forecast to generate £2bn in annual sales and £200m in yearly profits over the medium term.
Sainsbury’s ramps up price war November 17, 2009 J Sainsbury has fired another shot in the supermarket discount war by matching Tesco with a buy one, get one free later offer. The offer, which has been welcomed by food waste campaigners, allows shoppers to pick up their free product when they want it via a voucher system. Sainsbury’s said its offer will also [...]
People still value the personal touch from banks November 17, 2009 LAST week saw the launch of NatWest’s personal banking iPhone app, in line with the banking sector’s efforts to cut costs and improve user experience by moving their operations online. Recent YouGov research undertaken on behalf of Deloitte points to the risks in an online strategy: customers place high value on face-to-face interactions in their [...]
Bid talk pushes Dana higher as FTSE 100 loses its grip November 17, 2009 A retreat in miners and banks offset strength in defensive utilities and food retailers yesterday, pushing the FTSE 100 lower by 0.7 per cent lower, ending four consecutive sessions of gains. The index closed 36.74 points lower at 5,345.93, giving back some gains from the previous session when shares hit a 14-month closing high. Mid-cap [...]
Tesco finance unit shuns Lloyds and RBS assets November 17, 2009 Tesco is not interested in any assets bailed-out banks Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland will be forced to sell to satisfy EU antitrust worries, the head of Tesco Personal Finance said. Benny Higgins also said on the sidelines of the Euro Finance Week conference yesterday that Tesco might not launch a current account until [...]
Wiseman sees profits leap November 16, 2009 Scottish dairy group Robert Wiseman Dairies has milked the most out of the collapse of Dairy Farmers Group, posting an 81.5 per cent rise in first half profit. A confident Robert Wiseman said 150m litres of milk supply had moved across to it as a direct result of dairy farmers leaving the market. That more [...]
THE TIPSTER RETAILERS TRY TO BEAT THE RECESSION November 15, 2009 SO FAR, so good for the British retailers, it would seem. The likes of Marks&Spencer, Next and J Sainsbury have all released better-than-expected third quarter figures, and the latter is once again looking like an attractive proposition. Although lower food inflation might be expected to hit bumper sale figures, both the supermarket and its rival [...]
Get your hands dirty in Sardinia November 15, 2009 THESE days, you can hardly turn on a television without seeing somebody rummaging around in hedgerows, or cooking a meal with something they have just picked or plucked from a tree. Foraging is in. The idea of wandering around the British countryside in November looking for my dinner doesn’t exactly appeal – but doing so [...]