UK petrol prices: Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda kick off war at the pumps February 9, 2018 A UK petrol price war has kicked off with three of the big four supermarkets slashing prices at the pumps. In the last few minutes, Sainsbury’s mirrored an earlier move by Asda and Morrisons this morning to knock 2p off a litre of petrol and diesel. Sources at Tesco said a decision had yet to [...]
Co-op awaits approval of Nisa members for its £140m takeover November 12, 2017 Members are gearing up to vote on the proposed buyout of convenience chain Nisa by the Co-operative. Shopkeeper members will vote tomorrow at about 11am in an emergency general meeting. Co-op needs 75 per cent of votes cast to approve for its bid of almost £140m. It is expected that the vote will have a [...]
Co-op has made a formal offer to buy convenience chain Nisa for £137.5m October 10, 2017 The Co-operative has offered to buy convenience chain Nisa for £137.5m. Nisa released a statement this morning saying that its board had unanimously recommended the offer to its members. The offer includes £137.5m for the full shareholding of the company plus associated deal costs of £5.5m, totting up to a total cost to Co-op of [...]
Behind the deal: These are the bankers and advisers working on the £3.7bn Tesco-Booker tie-up January 27, 2017 Tesco’s £3.7bn deal for wholesaler Booker is an early boost for the UK’s 2017 M&A market, following a rather subdued 2016. Below are details of the bankers and advisers behind the deal. Tesco advisers It’s increasingly difficult to find a big UK deal without a boutique investment bank at its centre. And this £3.7bn merger proved [...]
Former Tesco finance chief Laurie McIlwee to join the board of Giraffe restaurant chain and Ed’s Easy Diner parent group March 7, 2017 A former Tesco finance chief is poised to join the board of the restaurant group that owns the likes of Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner, according to reports. Laurie McIlwee has been appointed executive chairman of Boparan Restaurant Group, Sky News reported, months after being cleared of any involvement in Tesco’s 2014 profit overstatement scandal. Read [...]
Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe apologises for singing “we’re in the money” as concerns grow over Asda merger April 30, 2018 Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe was left embarrassed this evening as he was caught on camera singing “We’re in the Money”, on the day the supermarket announced details of a merger with Walmart-owned Asda. Coupe’s little ditty came as unions and MPs raised concerns that the deal could result in job losses and a squeeze on [...]
Kantar figures: Lidl maintains position as UK’s fastest growing grocer as Sainsbury’s outpaces Big Four November 14, 2017 Lidl has kept its crown as the UK’s fastest growing grocer for a fifth quarter in a row, as Sainsbury’s becomes the best performing of the Big Four. Figures published by Kantar Worldpanel this morning show that sales were up 15.1 per cent at Lidl in the 12 weeks to 5 November, with 10.6m households [...]
Countrywide’s (CWD) share price rises as chief executive Alison Platt resigns after profit warning January 24, 2018 Alison Platt has resigned as chief executive of estate agent Countrywide, and will stand down from the board, after a shares slump last week off the back of a profit warning. The board has asked Peter Long to become executive chairman until a successor is appointed. Paul Creffield, previously managing director of commercial development, becomes [...]
Next (NXT) share price rises as it weathers high street woes to up earnings guidance March 23, 2018 Next reported the results from a difficult year for the retailer, with both sales and profit dipping for the year to January 2018. The retailer said last year in many ways, was “the most challenging” it had faced for 25 years, as a difficult clothing market coincided with “self-inflicted product ranging errors and omissions”. It [...]
Tesco to shed 1,000 members of staff from distribution business in streamlining move January 9, 2017 Tesco is set to lay off 1,000 members of staff from its distribution network as part of a wider streamlining programme. The proposed changes will reduce the number of its distribution centres in the UK from 25 to 23 and will result in 1,000 redundancies. However, the move will also create 500 new jobs, leaving a net [...]