Keep your eyes on the pies December 2, 2009 CHRISTMAS without mince pies would be like a British summer without rain – simply not possible. We love our mince pies – at least before a month of over-eating them makes us a stone heavier and permanently nausceous. But they can vary in quality. At their best, they are a combination of sweet, sour, gooey [...]
…AND WINES TO MATCH December 2, 2009 CROFT’S PARTICULAR A rich Amontillado-style cream sherry like this one works well for your more traditional pie – and traditional pie eater. It’s an unusually pale sherry, which uses fino instead of oloroso as the base wine, lightening up the style overall, and adding the interesting nuances. £10.06 at Waitrose. H&H VERDELHO MADEIRASometimes, nothing beats [...]
Bolland’s exit creates a gap November 22, 2009 Marc Bolland’s defection from WM Morrison to Marks & Spencer may have signalled the end of one succession saga – but has promptly sparked another, as the City clamours to predict who will fill the Dutchman’s shoes. Bolland is widely credited with transforming Morrison’s after its problematic acquisition of Safeway in 2004. When news broke [...]
Japanese whisky, the spirit of Christmas November 11, 2009 IF JAPANESE whisky sounds like a joke – something akin to the Jamaican bobsleigh team, or Indian wine – then you clearly don’t know very much about spirits. At last year’s World Whisky Awards, Yoichi 20-year-old was voted the best whisky in the world, while Suntory’s Hibiki was voted the best blended whisky. If you [...]
Clubcard lifts Tesco’s share of customers November 10, 2009 SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is growing market share for the first time in two years as it fights back at its rivals, industry figures show. Tesco’s double Clubcard points promotion – which cost the group around £5m a week – helped its share of the grocery market climb to 30.7 per cent in the 12 weeks [...]
M&S beats forecasts as it says no to discounting November 4, 2009 MARKS & SPENCER (M&S) yesterday said that there would be no blanket promotions that dominated the high street last year in the run up to the Christmas period, after its half year sales beat City forecasts. Executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose yesterday said that this year included very different circumstances. He said: “Last year people [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 3, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES INDIA SOLD ON GOLDGold surged to an all-time high after India bought 200 tonnes of the precious metal, swapping dollars for bullion as the finance minister warned the economies of the US and Europe had ‘collapsed’. India’s decision to exchange $6.7bn for gold equivalent to eight per cent of world annual mine production [...]
Tesco starts to close gap on faster growing rivals October 13, 2009 TESCO, the UK’s largest retailer, is closing the gap on faster-growing competitors, market researcher TNS WorldPanel said yesterday. TNS, which tracks sales growth in the grocery sector, said sales at Tesco, which has been growing less quickly than rivals in recent months, rose 4.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 4 October. This was [...]
J Sainsbury sales growth slows down October 7, 2009 J SAINSBURY, hot on the heels of supermarket archrival Tesco, yesterday revealed that its second quarter sales growth had slowed as food inflation eased in the autumn. Sainsbury’s said like-for-like sales growth, excluding fuel, slowed to 4.6 per cent rise for the 16 weeks to 3 October down from seven per cent in the previous [...]
Banks and oil lead the markets lower October 7, 2009 EUROPEAN shares closed lower yesterday with banking and oil stocks leading the fallers, as investors booked profits ahead of the US third-quarter corporate results season. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.4 per cent at 988.76 points. The benchmark index is up 19 per cent this year and has surged 53 [...]