FTSE ends lower as retailers reveal a miserable Christmas January 12, 2012 BRITAIN’S leading shares fell yesterday after a profit warning from Tesco triggered sharp falls in retailers and eclipsed a lift for banks from a successful Spanish debt auction and restructuring at RBS. The FTSE 100 index closed down 8.40 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,662.42, once again missing out in a tilt at the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THE GROWTH SEEN AT SAINSBURY’S SUSTAINABLE? May 11, 2011 RICHARD HUNTER | HARGREAVES LANSDOWN Sainsbury is positioning itself for further growth, especially in the areas of convenience stores, online business, and an increasing move into non-food products. On the downside, wider economic uncertainty remains and cheaper selling prices do not always equate to higher profits, since margins are squeezed. CLIONA LYNCH | VERDICT RESEARCH [...]
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, [...]
London 2012 Image of the week December 15, 2011 On Tuesday, BT launched its torchbearer nomination process. BT is one of three presenting partners for the Paralympic torch relay – the others being Lloyds TSB and Sainsbury’s. On 28 and 29 August next year, 580 torchbearers will work in teams of five to carry the flame during an overnight relay from Stoke Mandeville to [...]
Supermarkets vie to promote value for money November 1, 2011 WITH the economic outlook still looking bleak and consumers (as shown by YouGov’s Household Economic Activity Tracker) increasingly price conscious it is not surprising that a number of big supermarkets are keen to emphasise their value. Sainsbury’s launched its “live well for less” advertisements on 15 September and Tesco’s “Big Price Drop” campaign came out [...]
Property firm St Modwen sees big year December 1, 2011 PROPERTY regeneration company St Modwen expects its full-year results to buck the economic downturn, coming in at the upper end of forecasts. The company, which owns the Elephant and Castle and Edmonton Green shopping centres in London, said in a trading update that sales and buyer interest in its new sites have both been high, [...]
Slowdown in sales growth at Sainsbury’s March 23, 2011 SAINSBURY’S said yesterday that its sales growth was slowing with fears over the economy draining consumer confidence. Chief executive Justin King said that the company was performing well considering the challenges facing retailers. Like-for-like sales for the fourth-quarter were up by one per cent, below market expectations, and against growth of 3.6 per cent in [...]
Prices tumble at UK’s stores November 8, 2011 PRICE wars between supermarkets are driving down the cost of food and other items, as stores fight for the attention of increasingly squeezed shoppers. Food was half a per cent cheaper last month than in September, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed this morning. Tesco has been pushing its “Big Price Drop”, while Asda’s “Price [...]
Prices tumble at UK’s stores November 8, 2011 PRICE wars between supermarkets are driving down the cost of food and other items, as stores fight for the attention of increasingly squeezed shoppers. Food was half a per cent cheaper last month than in September, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed this morning. Tesco has been pushing its “Big Price Drop”, while Asda’s “Price [...]
Tesco’s marketing strategy needs a new broom in 2012 to sweep away its Clubcard January 12, 2012 THESE were bad figures, Tesco can’t get away from that. Britain’s biggest retailer reported its worst Christmas sales performance for decades on Thursday and warned it would see minimal profit growth next year. Down 1.3 per cent like-for-like (including VAT) in the UK was much worse than any other figures we’ve had from the major [...]