The range of premium mixers produced to raise gin’s spirits October 21, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks luck, liquor and a lightbulb moment with Charles Rolls, co-founder of drinks label Fever-Tree WHILE gin may not be the most popular global spirit (that prestigious title goes to Korean rice wine brand Jinro), the world consumes 440m litres of it each year. But back in 2000, Charles Rolls, co-founder of the [...]
Tesco hit by ratings warning as it unveils refreshed luxury range October 7, 2013 TESCO yesterday relaunched its Finest range of luxury produce, though the redesign was not enough to stop a debt rating warning from Moody’s last night. The supermarket, which spent tens of millions of pounds and the better part of a year on the redesign, has recently lost out on UK sales growth to both the [...]
Rosy results for Sainsbury’s with increased sales, stores and new mobile service October 2, 2013 Sainsbury's has reported strong sales which have delivered continued outperformance, with total sales for the second quarter up five per cent (4.6 per cent excluding fuel). (Release) Like-for-like sales for the same period were up 2.1 per cent (2.0 per cent excluding fuel), with total sales for the first half of 2013 coming in up [...]
Brand Index: Price-conscious shoppers are feeling festive about Aldi October 1, 2013 ALDI has been on the rise this week. The discount grocer said its pre-tax profits had more than doubled in 2012, and during the year it attracted 1m additional shoppers. The company also revealed that it is launching a new own-brand line of cut-price luxury foods in time for the Christmas season. Aldi has a [...]
Bank appointed for Gamucci’s E-cigarette fundraising round September 29, 2013 E-CIGARETTE firm Gamucci will appoint Canaccord Genuity this week to manage a £20m fundraising round to finance the company’s expansion. The £20m will be the first of two fundraising rounds in which the company intends to raise between £70m and £100m. Gamucci, whose products are sold in WH Smith and Waitrose, expects its e-cigarette sales [...]
Waitrose and discounters thriving September 24, 2013 DISCOUNT supermarket Aldi saw year-on-year sales growth of a record 32.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to 15 September, according to new industry data, as upmarket rival Waitrose also upped market share. Waitrose achieved growth of 9.7 per cent year-on-year, Kantar Worldpanel said, well above market growth of 4.2 per cent. But Tesco, which [...]
My eggs need crack at Europe, says Mourinho September 17, 2013 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho resurrected his egg analogy yesterday as he lauded the benefits of Champions League football but denied winning the competition had become his obsession. Mourinho was asked to compare his current group of players to eggs, as he memorably did six years ago on the eve of what would be the last [...]
John Lewis first half profits take £50m hit after holiday pay error September 12, 2013 JOHN LEWIS said yesterday it was looking forward to positive trading in the second half after a review of its holiday pay policy dragged first half profits down 38.5 per cent. The department store group booked an exceptional £47.3m charge after discovering an error in the way it had calculated pay for Sundays and bank [...]
Sainsbury’s sales boost retailer to a larger share of the market August 28, 2013 SAINSBURY’S has successfully raised its share of the market through 2013, with sales growing as other retailers slip behind. In the 12 weeks to 18 August, Sainsbury’s saw a 49 per cent hike in sales, when compared to the same period last year, rising from £3.86bn to £4.05bn. According to the figures, collected from 30,000 [...]
John Lewis is set to create a new restaurant August 14, 2013 JOHN Lewis is poised to launch a new restaurant concept in a move to diversify its catering range and attract more customers into its department stores. Chief executive Andy Street said while John Lewis’ restaurants and cafeterias were profitable and provided good quality, “middle of the road” food, they were not “cutting edge” brands. “There [...]