EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannau opens first EasyFood pilot store in London – with food priced at 25p February 2, 2016 Aldi and Lidl are about to get a taste of their own medicine, after EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannau has opened his first EasyFoodstore in north-west London, bringing the challenging spirit of the discount airline to the grocery sector. The Park Royal shop (next to the EasyBus depot on the North Circular, natch) will sell a limited and basic [...]
Consumer goods groups challenge financials to become biggest sector in FTSE 100 as Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Standard Chartered share prices plummet year-to-date March 3, 2016 Consumer goods groups are challenging the dominance of financial firms in the FTSE 100 for the first time in a decade. The two sectors are neck-and-neck, with consumer goods actually overtaking financials briefly during February, rising to account for 20.85 per cent of the FTSE 100, compared with 20.61 per cent, before slipping back down again. [...]
Stocking up on Christmas booze? Marks & Spencer is the best supermarket for wine – while Morrisons comes second December 1, 2015 Marks & Spencer has retained its crown as the best supermarket wine retailer for the second year running – but if you're stocking up on Christmas booze, you could do a lot worse than head to Morrisons, which came second in the medal table at this year's International Wine Challenge (IWC). M&S came first in [...]
Low inflation in 2015 battered businesses as consumers rejoiced January 18, 2016 Businesses lost out to the tune of £16.8bn last year due to low inflation, new research given to City A.M. shows. Prices were only 0.1 per cent higher in November than a year ago, well below the Bank of England’s two per cent inflation target, and hovered around zero per cent for most of 2015. [...]
UK farmers plan London march after world commodity crisis slashes incomes February 2, 2016 British farmers are reacting to the world commodity crisis in an unusual way – by planning a march on London. Lobby group Farmers For Action has received thousands of pledges of support for a demonstration on Wednesday 23 March. Coachloads of countryfolk will descend on London to highlight the sharp drop in food producers’ incomes over [...]
Aldi knocks Waitrose off its spot as UK’s sixth biggest supermarket April 8, 2015 Aldi has overtaken Waitrose to become the UK's sixth biggest supermarket. The budget supermarket, which has recorded double-digit sales growth for the past four years, now has 5.3 per cent of the country's spend on groceries, according to Kantar Worldpanel. Waitrose is still in growth – in fact just one of three to see [...]
Every little helps Tesco take on German disruptors January 20, 2016 It seems the Big Four supermarkets are fighting back against German disruptors Aldi and Lidl, with big beast Tesco reporting better-than-expected figures for the Christmas period. Despite gloomy City forecasts, the news saw Tesco shares spike as optimism returned for the future of the embattled retailer with the turnaround being spurred by lower prices on some [...]
End of an era: thousands of jobs to go at BHS stores to close as administrators call time on sale June 2, 2016 BHS is being wound down today after administrators revealed no deal was found to rescue the store, likely putting 11,000 staff out of work. In a statement this afternoon, administrators Duff & Phelps said it had "not been possible to agree a sale of the business". BHS is now being “wound down” because no buyer would [...]
Holland & Barrett tells suppliers to foot the bill for company’s investment programme by reducing costs January 18, 2016 Healthfood retailer Holland and Barrett has urged its suppliers to slim down their costs by five per cent to help fund the company's pension scheme. In addition to the price cuts, the group wants its suppliers to foot the bill for its investment in security by paying for £3m-worth of security tags and high definition CCTV in the [...]
Morrisons prepares for first day of trading on FTSE 250 along with G4S, while Worldpay gets ready for the blue chip index December 20, 2015 Tomorrow will be Morrisons’ first day trading on the FTSE 250, after being demoted from the blue-chip index in the last quarterly review. Security firm G4S and engineering firm Meggitt, will also have their first day of trading on the FTSE 250. It will be a happier day for Worldpay, which will join the FTSE [...]