Tesco loses market share in run-up to Xmas January 10, 2012 Britain’s biggest retailer, lost grocery market share in the run-up to Christmas as rivals fought back against its price-cutting campaign and cash-strapped shoppers flocked to discount stores, according to new data. Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said grocery sales rose 4.8 per cent in the 12 weeks to 25 December. That lagged a 5.9 per cent [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 9, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES RBS TO PRESS ON WITH BONUSES Royal Bank of Scotland is determined to press ahead with plans to pay out promised bonuses to investment bank boss John Hourican and other top staff, despite growing rhetoric from the government about excessive pay. RBS, which is 83 per cent owned by taxpayers, has long been [...]
Heston helps to boost Waitrose January 5, 2012 SUPERMARKET Waitrose said yesterday it had seen Christmas sales jump this year. The shops, part of the John Lewis Partnership, saw a 3.5 per cent jump in like-for-like grocery sales in December. In the week leading up to New Year, total sales rose by 9.7 per cent on last year. Among the big sellers were [...]
Margaret Thatcher’s legacy is that no-one tries to scrap what the Iron Lady achieved January 5, 2012 THIS isn’t a review of The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher and on general release in cinemas this week [For this, see p. 18]. I’m sure it’s a fine film and I’ll see it once I can scrape together the money from my dwindling pension for a pair of tickets and some [...]
John Lewis toasts “outstanding” Christmas sales January 4, 2012 High Street bellwether retailer John Lewis has said its sales throughout the Christmas period were “outstanding” at almost £600m. Sales rose 9.3 per cent to £596m in the five weeks to the end of December, compared with the same period in 2010, the owner of Peter Jones and Waitrose said. Like for like sales were [...]
Ocado slumps after grocery profits go off December 19, 2011 SHARES in Ocado took a battering yesterday after the online grocer warned that full-year profits would come in below expectations, due to problems at its main distribution centre in north London. The company, which sells goods from high-end supermarket chain Waitrose, said underlying earnings for the year would be within a range of £27.5m–£28.5m, down [...]
CITY VIEWS: are you surprised by the slump at ocado? December 19, 2011 Nico Tyabji Bloomberg “I can see how Ocado didn’t do very well this year because of the difficult economic climate. I don’t use it although I shop at Waitrose – I find it hard to take the leap to an online service like Ocado.” Reza Kaci City Index “I remember Ocado has had trouble before, [...]
Ocado issues profit warning December 19, 2011 British online grocer Ocado said its full-year earnings were on track to rise by at least a quarter after an easing of supply bottlenecks at its main distribution centre helped weekly deliveries hit a new record. But Ocado, which mostly sells the products of high-end supermarket chain Waitrose, said underlying earnings for the year to [...]
Waitrose tops supermarket poll December 15, 2011 Waitrose has topped the Which? annual customer satisfaction survey for the third year running, winning a score of 83 per cent as its big four rivals failed to impress. Budget retailers Aldi and Lidl came second and third respectively, beating Mark & Spencer – which came fourth – for the first time. Tesco and The [...]
Stuck for wine this Xmas? Try a Madeira my dear December 12, 2011 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT In the great age of exploration, Portuguese sailors would fill the holds of their ships with the wines of Madeira and sail to the New World. Like many wines of the era, destined for export, they were fortified – grape spirit was added to improve their stability and [...]