Tesco chief’s exit is a blow but shares still good buy June 8, 2010 AND so the curtain falls on Terry Leahy’s remarkable reign at Tesco. Most investors will be shocked by his departure; the received wisdom was that Leahy would stick around until 2014, when its troubled Fresh & Easy US venture started to come good. His exit is a major loss for the grocer, there is no [...]
Tesco’s Leahy nets £5.2m June 2, 2010 TESCO’s Sir Terry Leahy received £5.2m last year in a mixture of salary and performance-related cash and shares. The remuneration of the retailer’s chief executive compares with £5.1m the year before and is part of a boardroom pay package worth £25m compared with £22.2m last year. Leahy’s basic salary was £1.4m. The pay bonanza comes [...]
Developed markets should expect inflation January 16, 2011 INTEREST rates may still be at all time lows in the developed world but inflation is the only story in town for much of the emerging world. It will soon be the same story in the West. In 2008, spiralling food prices brought people in Asia, Africa and Latin America onto the streets. Many fear [...]
Game Group profit hit as price promotions weigh December 8, 2010 COMPUTER games retailer Game Group said its profit margins would fall by more than expected as it steps up promotions to lure cash-strapped shoppers and maintain share in a cut-throat competitive market. Game, which has been hit by the absence of new games console launches this year, said yesterday sales trends had improved in recent [...]
Tesco April 20, 2010 THE LATE Jack Cohen, who founded Tesco in 1924, was fond of telling staff “you can’t do business sitting on your arse”. It’s a slogan that clearly resonates with the current management team, who show no sign of losing their expansionary zeal. Tesco has grown much further and faster than domestic rivals like J Sainsbury [...]
Greenergy launches bid for Total’s UK forecourts November 28, 2010 GREENERGY, a supplier of fuel to British supermarket petrol stations, has launched a £1bn-plus bid to buy Total France’s UK retail network. Greenergy’s chief executive Paul Lester said he had held preliminary discussions with the French oil major about buying its portfolio of 780 petrol station forecourts. The supplier, in which the world’s number three [...]
A Twentieth Century business model can’t keep up with leaner competitors December 8, 2010 THERE isn’t anything particularly wrong with the way management is running Game Group. Like-for-like sales are still falling, an inevitability when one considers the unbelievable hype that surrounded the Nintendo Wii last year, but the declines are starting to narrow. The firm’s decision to focus on market share also appears to make sense, as does [...]
Retailers and commodities push FTSE to three-week high December 7, 2010 Britain’s top shares closed at their highest level in over three weeks yesterday, lifted by commodity makers and retailers as equities remained the preferred asset class among investors despite macro concerns. The FTSE 100 ended up 38.17 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 5,808.45, having closed 0.4 per cent higher on Monday and 7.3 per [...]
Retailers and commodities push FTSE to three-week high December 7, 2010 Britain’s top shares closed at their highest level in over three weeks yesterday, lifted by commodity makers and retailers as equities remained the preferred asset class among investors despite macro concerns. The FTSE 100 ended up 38.17 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 5,808.45, having closed 0.4 per cent higher on Monday and 7.3 per [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 1, 2010 SAB MILLER Nomura rates the brewer “reduce” with a target price of £19.75. The broker has continued concerns about the US beer market, and that planned investment in marketing and IT would hold back any increase in margins. Nomura notes SAB’s recent claim that revenue growth would be around two per cent, slightly below earlier [...]