Aldi is launching online shopping in 2016, taking on Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons in e-commerce, as discount supermarket reports record UK sales September 28, 2015 Aldi will venture into online shopping for the first time with plans to sell wine online from early 2016, taking on rivals Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons on new territory. Further non-food "special buys" will follow, and customers will have the choice of having items delivered to their homes or picking them up from third-party [...]
Oil prices: UK supermarkets Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s in petrol price war as they match crude oil price decline September 24, 2015 The UK’s supermarkets kicked off yet another price war yesterday, with Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s all slashing petrol prices by up to 2p per litre (ppl). Morrisons, which has 336 petrol stations in the UK, announced that it was making its third petrol price cut in four weeks. “The falling wholesale price of [...]
National living wage to hit convenience stores including Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s September 24, 2015 Convenience retailers warned today that they may have to reduce staff hours or cut jobs entirely to fund George Osborne’s national living wage of £9 for over-25s by 2020. Britain’s convenience sector employs around 407,000 staff and consists of around 50,000 stores – of which fewer than 2,500 are run by Tesco, Morrisons and [...]
Card Factory delivers a record profit but warns on wage rise September 23, 2015 Discount greetings card chain Card Factory reported a bumper first-half yesterday but became the latest retailer to warn that the government’s minimum wage rise could weigh on margins next year. The Wakefield-based company, which made its market debut in May last year, said pre-tax profits soared 72.3 per cent to reach £25.7m in the six [...]
Sainsbury’s beats Tesco, Asda and Morrisons as only top supermarket in growth while Kantar warns of impact Amazon Fresh will have on sector September 22, 2015 Yet more bad data for the Big Four was released today – plus a hint that there could be a fresh problem facing the UK's supermarket sector, in the form of Amazon Fresh. Sainsbury was the only supermarket among the Big Four to keep pace with the sector's growth over the last quarter, with Asda's [...]
Morrisons hires former supplier Express Dairies and Arla Foods boss Neil Davidson as non-executive director September 22, 2015 Morrisons' chair of the corporate compliance and responsibility committee Penny Hughes is stepping down after six years, to be replaced by former supplier Neil Davidson. Hughes will leave the board at the end of the calendar year "as a natural part of planned board succession", the supermarket said this morning. Davidson will join the board [...]
Finsbury Food profits soar after gobbling up rival bakery chains September 22, 2015 BREAD and cake-maker Finsbury Food has posted a surge in full-year profits, boosted by its acquisition of rival baker Fletchers and Just Desserts. The company, which supplies celebration cakes and other baked goods to retailers including Morrisons and M&S, posted a 6.1 per cent rise in like-for-like sales in the year to 27 June. Group [...]
Lidl promises to pay above the National Living Wage to all its UK staff September 18, 2015 Lidl has already beaten the big four supermarkets on price. Now, the German discounter also plans to trump them on employee benefits, after revealing that it will pay its staff above the living wage from October. The fast-growing chain announced yesterday that it will adopt the new higher rate it expects the Living Wage [...]
Just Retirement boss Rodney Cook hails “resilient” performance in post-pension freedom market September 17, 2015 Insurer Just Retirement showed the effects of George Osborne's pension reforms yesterday, with total retirement sales down 9.9 per cent in the year to 30 June. Sales of retirement products dropped to £1.15bn from £1.27bn in what the company described as “a largely pre-Budget comparative period”. However, shares in the firm were up by 1.69 [...]
Kier Group shares dip as group announces reduced dividend despite growing revenue and profits September 17, 2015 Kier Group's share price dropped this morning after the group announced a reduced dividend per share in its results for the year. Shares were down by 4.4 per cent in early trading, however Kier boss Haydn Mursell said he expected the price to do well throughout the rest of the day. Kier's proposed full year [...]