Bonuses slashed at Sainsbury’s and M&S June 7, 2012 The chief executives of major retailers J Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer have both taken cuts in their bonuses after failing to meet targets and as recession forces them to scale back growth plans. Philip Clarke, head of rival Tesco, last month forewent his annual bonus, paying the price for a weak performance in the [...]
Online shopping spurs PayPoint January 24, 2013 Credit card processing company PayPoint yesterday said increasing internet transactions led it to a four per cent rise in revenues year-on-year for the three months to January. The firm, whose customers include Sainsburys Local, Asda and the Co-op, processed 193m transactions during the period, up five per cent on last year. The rise in internet [...]
Why Tesco’s cracking results took the Christmas crown January 10, 2013 HOW to find a clear winner in the Christmas battle of the supermarkets? Not from the headline figures, it seems, after straightforward data releases from Sainsbury and Tesco descended into a furore over the small print. Tesco reported like-for-like sales growth of 1.8 per cent over Christmas. Sainsbury reported like-for-like growth of 0.9 per cent. [...]
FTSE 100 up on US earnings optimism January 9, 2013 Engineers and financial stocks led the blue chip index up in early trading, as a solid start to the US earnings season boosted investors’ appetite for stocks. Miners also advanced as investors welcomed news that Alcoa, the US’s biggest aluminium producer, forecasted a positive outlook for 2013. The FTSE 100 – trading around 0.4 per [...]
Suppliers back quarterly tests for horsemeat February 18, 2013 ENVIRONMENT minister Owen Paterson last night said food retailers will conduct tests for horse- meat in processed beef products every three months, in an attempt to restore consumer confidence in the industry. “There was absolute determination in the industry to restore confidence in their products, and I’m pleased to say we look forward to meeting [...]
Sainsbury says it beat rivals but shares fall June 13, 2012 J SAINSBURY crowned itself “a Jubilee winner” after chief executive Justin King said the Queen’s celebrations helped the retailer continue to beat its rivals in the first quarter of 2012. Like-for-like sales rose 1.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 9 June, while total sales rose 3.8 per cent excluding fuel, with savvy shoppers [...]
Horse burger fears spread January 16, 2013 SAINSBURY’S, the Co-op and ASDA yesterday cleared their shelves of burgers supplied by companies at the centre of a horse meat scandal. There is no evidence the three supermarkets sold contaminated products but they have taken the precautionary measure following Tuesday’s revelation that the meat content in a sample of Tesco’s Everyday Beef Burgers was 29 per cent [...]
FSA finds positive horse meat tests as more companies drawn into scandal February 15, 2013 The Food Standards Agency said this afternoon it had found 29 positive tests for horse meat after demanding samples from UK retailers. In a scandal that is spreading across Europe, the agency said this afternoon it had conducted 2,501 tests, 2,472 of which had come back negative for horsemeat levels above one per cent, with [...]
Aldi hitting the mainstream as customers seek value January 8, 2013 THIS time last year poor results at Tesco shocked investors and the grocery sector, although followers of YouGov’s BrandIndex and this column would have been aware of their problems a month earlier. With the all-important Christmas season now behind us I’ve taken a look back at 2012 to see what the big customer perception stories [...]
Businessman who woke up and smelt the coffee February 24, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks to Andrew Rugasira, the Ugandan entrepreneur with a new book and a Good African story to tell THE lives of 14,000 farmers in the Ugandan Rwenzori Mountains have been transformed since Andrew Rugasira had his lightbulb moment in 2002. At the time, he was running a prosperous marketing and events company in [...]