Flight to quality in stores February 2, 2010 Intense competition among Britain’s top grocers has hit sales growth at smaller hard discounters Aldi and Lidl, while Asda has suffered most from recent severe weather, market researchers said yesterday. Kantar Worldpanel, the new name for TNS Worldpanel, said sales at Britain’s grocers rose 5.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 24 January, helped [...]
Axed Moody’s reassured as Worsley gets nod for Scots March 9, 2010 ENGLAND coach Martin Johnson insists the door is not closed on Lewis Moody after the Leicester flanker was dropped for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland. Moody was withdrawn after just 55 minutes of Saturday’s defeat to Ireland, and has now been replaced in the starting line-up by Joe Worsley, who returns for the first [...]
Allan Leighton: the man behind Crozier’s move January 28, 2010 ITV chairman Archie Norman yesterday said he had scoured the world for a new chief executive before finally settling on Adam Crozier. But the man he eventually chose came via a more direct route, through his friendship with long-time friend and former Asda colleague Allan Leighton. Norman – chief executive and then chairman of Asda [...]
The grocer who says this year will test retailers as well as shoppers May 31, 2010 Much like the rest of the country, the chief executive of the country’s third largest supermarket group is trying to make up his mind about the coalition government. At the start of the election campaign Sainsbury’s boss Justin King was one of many who backed Tory plans to scrap national insurance hikes for employers, a [...]
DIAMONDS ARE AN INVESTOR’S BEST FRIEND March 11, 2010 WE’VE all heard a lot of novel investment advice over the course of the last two bumpy years, but investing in your own diamond mine has got to be a new one. Investment firm Capital Alternatives has set up a new venture, Capital Mining, which plans to do just that, having recently snapped up the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 7, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph NORTHERN ROCK £400M LOSS Northern Rock made multi-million pound losses for a third year running in 2009, the nationalised lender will reveal this week. The bank will report pre-tax losses of about £400m, analysts believe, a marked improvement on the £1.36bn of losses in 2008. Since the Government bailed it [...]
US unit could be up for sale, says Wimpey January 21, 2010 TAYLOR Wimpey, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, is understood to be considering spinning off its North American business through a sale or stock market flotation, which could enable it to slash its debt mountain. The company’s adviser JP Morgan Cazenove is thought to have started sounding out rival and other institutions on their appetite for [...]
DON’T FORGET THE IMPACT OF POLITICS January 25, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT LAST week equities hit a brick wall. The US fourth quarter earnings season has been a disappointment so far. Companies are finding that a decent result on the bottom line just won’t cut it with investors if revenues haven’t improved. Also, the actions taken by the People’s Bank of [...]
Bolland’s exit creates a gap November 22, 2009 Marc Bolland’s defection from WM Morrison to Marks & Spencer may have signalled the end of one succession saga – but has promptly sparked another, as the City clamours to predict who will fill the Dutchman’s shoes. Bolland is widely credited with transforming Morrison’s after its problematic acquisition of Safeway in 2004. When news broke [...]
THIS IS NOT JUST ANY CHIEF EXEC… November 18, 2009 MARKS & Spencer yesterday stunned the City by naming WM Morrison’s successful boss Marc Bolland as its new chief executive. The shock move was widely welcomed by investors in M&S – but Morrisons’ shareholders suffered heavy losses. Sir Stuart Rose, who has been holding the position of executive chairman in defiance of corporate governance rules, [...]