Asda hires new finance chief as Richard Mayfield joins Walmart November 26, 2013 ASDA has appointed a new chief financial officer after announcing yesterday that Richard Mayfield is to leave the retailer after just a year in the role to join parent company Walmart. The grocery chain said Alex Russo will join the group in January from Peruvian restaurant franchise specialist Delosi, which works with brands including Starbucks, [...]
Lidl clothing range: Discount retailer challenges British supermarkets on fashion front August 20, 2014 Not content with challenging big British supermarkets on food prices, discount favourite Lidl is taking the stores on in the fashion stakes. The German retailer is about to launch a fashion range for women that includes jeans, shoes and even leather jackets, with a men's range to follow later this year. From August 25th shoppers [...]
Sainsbury’s new boss Mike Coupe blames “perfect storm” for sales drop October 1, 2014 Sainsbury's new chief executive said that a “perfect storm” of effects had plunged sales further into the red in the second quarter as the supermarket retailer cut its full-year sales forecast and warned that it might review its dividend. In his first official trading update since taking over from Justin King in July, Mike [...]
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons: Have investors given up on supermarkets? October 1, 2014 Tesco's share price has fallen 3.4 per cent today. Wm Morrison's has declined by 5 per cent. Sainsbury's share price tumbled 6.6 per cent. Although they operate in the same sector, each of these three supermarkets is suffering its own problem. So what is happening? Tesco's well documented £250m black hole in its [...]
UK retail sales on the rise in July July 23, 2014 Summer is smiling on the British high street as the good weather boosted retail sales beyond last months figure and above the expectations of a group of economists polled by Reuters. The Confederation of British Industry surveyed 133 different retailers and found that 46 per cent of retailers said sales volumes rose in the year to [...]
Bottom Line: As the going gets tough, Justin King gets going June 11, 2014 There was a lot of back-slapping at Sainsbury’s yesterday, with Justin King talking up his successor, and his successor lavishing praise on the soon-to-depart chief executive. “When Justin started at the business we were serving 14m customers a week, and now we’re serving 24m a week. That’s a great achievement,” enthused Mike Coupe. King insists the [...]
Asda deal for Whitworths baking October 10, 2013 Real Good Food Company has won contracts to supply its Whitworths sugar products to Booker and Asda, in a deal that is set to double the value of the brand. The new deals will place the “Whitworths for Baking” range in supermarkets across the country and should create 80 jobs at the firm’s Napier Brown [...]
Asda sparks off a supermarket petrol price war October 29, 2013 ASDA fuelled a supermarket price war when it unveiled plans to cut petrol prices yesterday, causing other major British chains to quickly follow suit. The budget chain said that from tomorrow it would cut petrol to its lowest price this year, at 126.7p per litre on unleaded and 133.7p per litre for diesel. Sainsbury’s is [...]
Britain’s biggest companies call on Westminster for fundamental business rates reform September 16, 2014 Some of Britain's biggest businesses including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco, General Motors and Tata Steel have called on the government to rip up the current business rate regime claiming the current system is “a critical problem for all of British business”. The controversial tax delivers around £25bn to the Treasury every year, but [...]
Scottish independence: BT, TalkTalk, EE, Telefonica, Vodafone and Three warn of increased costs if Scots vote Yes September 14, 2014 Six of Britain's leading telecoms companies are the latest to warn of potential price rises if Scotland votes Yes to independence. The chiefs of BT, TalkTalk, EE, Telefonica UK, Vodafone UK and Three UK have issued a joint letter warning that the uncertainty around regulation and spectrum allocation, which mobile networks use to operate, could [...]