Supermarkets cut fuel prices July 28, 2014 THE LATEST round of petrol price wars kicks off today, as three of the country’s largest supermarket chains lower the cost at the pumps. Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s have all slashed 2p per litre off the price of diesel and petrol. Morrisons has not yet followed suit, but says it “will be evaluating [its] pricing [...]
Sunday trading laws are outdated: They hurt us consumers in our wallets July 14, 2014 If you woke up early yesterday morning and thought it might be a good time to get the weekly shop done, you would have had to forget it. Sorry, this is England. If you want to go shopping, move to Scotland, where big supermarkets like Sainsbury’s open early and stay open until 10pm on a [...]
Customer science: Dunnhumby CEO Simon Hay on the importance of data in online advertising July 6, 2014 Liam Ward-Proud talks to Dunnhumby chief executive Simon Hay. Before media agencies started making serious strides into consumer data and personalisation, customer insight firm Dunnhumby was busy helping Tesco (now its owner) reinvent the customer loyalty programme with Clubcard. Now, after buying German ad tech firm Sociomantic Labs this April, it’s planning on [...]
Analysts to the fore in big sectorial shakeups September 9, 2014 ANALYST of the year The role of the analyst has become increasingly important at such an uncertain time in the economy, when everyone is looking for guidance. With the UK retail sector in turmoil over the decline of Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, Waitrose and especially Tesco – caused mainly by the rise of the German discounters – their views [...]
French unemployment edges higher adding to Hollande’s woes September 4, 2014 The unemployment rate in France has edged higher in another blow to President Hollande’s efforts to reduce jobless rates- one of a variety of economic woes for the French leader. 10.2 per cent of the French population were out of work in the second quarter of this year, compared to 10.1 per cent in the [...]
Ex-Asda bosses Archie Norman and Allan Leighton linked to Morrisons chairman role July 27, 2014 Former Asda bosses Archie Norman and Allan Leighton are said to be in the running to become the new chairman of troubled supermarket chain Morrisons. Norman and Leighton were credited with reversing Asda’s fortunes in the 1990s and are both seen as plausible candidates to help revive the chain, which has been losing market share [...]
City of London and Westminster property tribes (almost) put rivalry aside July 21, 2014 The City of London and Westminster’s property giants put their old rivalries aside last night, as they came together in the House of Lords to launch Building Central London’s Future – A Manifesto For Growth. Well, almost… First to the stage was co-founder of Exemplar Properties and chairman of Westminster Property Association Daniel Van Gelder, [...]
Bank competition is picking up speed – and this inquiry is a vital next step November 6, 2014 YESTERDAY, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it will be launching far-reaching investigations into the state of competition in the personal current account and smaller business banking markets. This is an extremely significant development, and one that the government welcomes. It is exactly why we created the CMA. A key part of our [...]
Fears over Ebola contagion puts airlines in a spin – London Report October 7, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index fell back yesterday, with travel and leisure companies hit by concerns that the spread of Ebola outside Africa could hurt air travel and the tourism business. Sentiment was also hit by a set of poor data, including an unexpected four per cent month-on-month drop in German industrial production in August. Analysts had [...]
Shapland is named Poundland chair in retail merry-go-round July 29, 2014 Poundland yesterday named Darren Shapland as its new chairman after losing its current boss to the troubled supermarket Morrisons in the latest round of retail musical chairs. Shapland joined the bargain chain’s board as a senior independent director ahead of its £750m float in March after a brief stint as chief executive of the flooring [...]