Ocado’s growth slows but first profit is in sight March 12, 2014 ONLINE grocer Ocado yesterday said it was on course to report its first ever annual profit this year after strong first quarter sales. Retail sales rose 18 per cent to £218m in the 12 weeks to 23 February. However, this was below what analysts were expecting and a slowdown on the 20.1 per cent growth [...]
Labour’s immigration speech overshadowed by Tesco/Next row August 12, 2013 Labour’s shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant was forced to defend his criticisms of Tesco and Next made in a speech on Labour’s immigration policy earlier today (today's speech in full). In the leaked version of the speech, Bryant criticised “unscrupulous employers” who choose to use cheaper foreign workers over British candidates in an attempt to [...]
B&M Retail lines up £2.5bn stock market debut May 22, 2014 B&M RETAIL, the discount shopping chain, yesterday batted away fears of a slowdown in London’s new issues market as it unveiled plans for a £2.5bn main market float. The chain, founded in 1978 by a shopkeeper in Blackpool, said its £1.2bn turnover, ambitious expansion plans and overseas subsidiaries set the company apart from others trying [...]
B&M Retail lines up £2.5bn stock market debut May 22, 2014 B&M RETAIL, the discount shopping chain, yesterday batted away fears of a slowdown in London’s new issues market as it unveiled plans for a £2.5bn main market float. The chain, founded in 1978 by a shopkeeper in Blackpool, said its £1.2bn turnover, ambitious expansion plans and overseas subsidiaries set the company apart from others trying [...]
Marx was wrong (cont): Corporate giants are inherently fragile June 17, 2014 ONE of Karl Marx’s big theories was that capitalism had an inherent tendency towards monopoly and would thus self-destroy. The idea remains widely held, and is one reason countries operate stringent anti-trust regulations. But it’s a little more complicated than that. First, many monopolies or quasi-monopolies are actually created by the state, rather than resulting [...]
Sainsbury’s loses Tesco ad fight July 30, 2013 The Advertising Standards Authority is today expected to dismiss a challenge to Tesco’s price promise campaign, which was brought by rival Sainsbury’s. As the supermarkets jostle for market share among cost-conscious customers, Sainsbury’s led a group complaining that Tesco’s price-matching scheme had unfairly compared the former’s Fairtrade products with the latter’s Everyday Value range.
Sir Terry Leahy joins social media company Starcount…but still not Twitter February 10, 2014 Former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has leapt into social media, wallet blazing, by both investing in and becoming a board member of fan science company Starcount. Sir Terry will be joining old Tesco comrades Clive Humby and Edwina Dunn – the pioneers behind the supermarket’s Clubcard – who took stakes in [...]
Don’t fear the quantified workplace April 24, 2014 While it has shades of Big Brother, personal analytics could make your job happier and easier SELF-KNOWLEDGE is the first step towards self-improvement for the personal analytics evangelists. If you can use wearable sensors to acquire data about yourself, and then analyse your performance over tasks, you can deploy this information to change your behaviour [...]
London Report: Vodafone and Marks weigh down on FTSE May 20, 2014 SELL-OFFS in mobile operator Vodafone and retailer Marks & Spencer dragged down Britain’s blue-chip equity index yesterday, after disappointing forecasts from both companies. The benchmark FTSE 100 index closed down by 0.6 per cent, or 42.55 points, at 6,802.00 points. Vodafone took the most points off the FTSE as it fell by 5.5 per cent [...]
John Lewis reveals the five brand new technologies it’s investing in May 27, 2014 John Lewis today crowned the five technology startups that have won a place in the retailer’s technology incubator, called JLAB. The winners were chosen from a shortlist of 30 companies that were given five minutes last week to pitch a product that will help ensure John Lewis’s stores and website remain at the forefront [...]