Ashley scores in the weird world of business tiffs December 15, 2013 MIKE Ashley is not happy with Adidas, after the German sports company refused from next season to let Ashley’s retail giant Sports Direct sell its replica Chelsea kits – incidentally one of Sports Direct’s bestsellers. Ashley is understandably miffed, and it has even been suggested the billionaire plans to build a hostile stake in Adidas [...]
The fluid society: SMEs can grow by tearing down walls May 21, 2014 Flexible working and “flat” firms are thriving thanks to the growth of collaborative technology Developments in communication technologies are transforming modern businesses, leading to more fluid, less hierarchical workplaces. The archetypal office of the 20th century was filled with long, straight rows of desks and meeting rooms. As John McRae of ORMS Architecture Design writes, [...]
Food retailers are getting crushed this morning January 9, 2014 It's not been a great morning for the supermarkets. Food retailers Ouch!!!! pic.twitter.com/OZwHAdNE1P — Alastair McCaig (@AMcCaig_IG) January 9, 2014 Morrisons, the third biggest grocer on the FTSE 100, is leading the index lower after an shock Christmas update – like-for-like sales were down 5.6 per cent. Shares have fallen over five per [...]
Supermarket retailers Waitrose and Co-op see mixed fortunes January 8, 2014 THE FESTIVE trading period produced mixed fortunes for supermarket retailers Waitrose and the Co-operative, which is fighting to turn itself around after a dire year for its banking arm. The Co-op’s food arm, which has been steadily losing market share, gained some respite after posting a one per cent rise in like-for-like sales in 13 [...]
The week in brief February 23, 2014 Coca-Cola to reinvest $1bn in marketing after fall in sales The soft drinks company – one of many struggling to deal with declining demand – plans to make an extra $1bn (£600m) in productivity savings by 2016, most of which will then be reinvested back into marketing. Earlier this month, it announced a drop in [...]
Morrisons loses market share to its competitors January 14, 2014 WM MORRISON’S troubles over Christmas were further underscored yesterday by figures that showed that the grocer was the only one of the big four supermarkets to suffer a fall in overall sales in the past 12 weeks. Kantar Worldpanel data showed the retailer’s market share dropped to 11.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to [...]
Donmar Privacy play reveals all April 28, 2014 THEATRE PRIVACY Donmar Warehouse | By Alex Dymoke Four Stars “IN 21 YEARS of invading people’s privacy I’ve never found anybody doing any good… Privacy is for paedos. Privacy is evil.” This speech by former News of the World hack Paul McMullan delivered to the Leveson inquiry is quoted verbatim in the first act of [...]
Sainsbury’s chief to step down after ten year rule January 29, 2014 SAINSBURY’S chief executive Justin King is to step down after ten years at the helm, having overseen nine years of consecutive growth and restored the company’s status as Britain’s second largest supermarket chain. King will step down at the company’s annual general meeting in July, when he will be replaced by Sainsbury’s commercial director Mike [...]
Bottom Line: Supermarket needs to focus on web and sales, not real estate January 12, 2014 THE debate being waged over whether Morrisons should sell some of its freehold estate surely misses the point about the grocery chain’s future. There is nothing wrong with the structure of Morrisons’ estate that a little tinkering can not remedy. And it will remain, as it has insisted, “overwhelmingly freehold” – that is as long [...]
Inside Track: The EU’s rules to cap bankers’ bonuses aren’t working January 15, 2014 CREATE a loophole and bankers will leap through it quicker than you can say “deferred compensation”: that seems to be one of the axioms of the aftermath of the financial crisis. Examine the consequences of the European Commission’s cap on the multiple of salaries that banks can dish out in variable pay, though, and the [...]