Asda overtaken by Sainsbury’s as UK’s second largest supermarket but big four continue to slide January 13, 2015 Asda has lost its title as the second largest supermarket in the UK to Sainsbury's, while discounters Aldi and Lidl continue making gains on the big four. Of the big four – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – sales fell by the smallest amount at Sainsbury’s, down 0.7 per cent. This helped it regain second place [...]
Fighting forward: The Black Farmer’s Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones talks sausages, political incorrectness and willpower May 31, 2015 Being an entrepreneur is all about timing. You can have the best-laid plans in the world, a huge amount of skill, but it’s really about catching the zeitgeist.” This is Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones’s opening line to me. After a brief pause, he adds, “life is also all about timing”. This is something the founder of [...]
Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner heralds “online grocery revolution” as firm records first full year profit February 3, 2015 Ocado has made its first full-year profit in the company's 15-year history The figures Pre-tax profit was £7.2m for the 12 months to 30 November, compared to a loss of £12.5m during the equivalent period a year earlier. Sales went up from £843m to £972.4m, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose [...]
Matthew Barnes takes the Aldi reins solo as Roman Heini returns to Germany November 21, 2014 Aldi is restructuring its top team in the UK and Ireland, with Matthew Barnes taking over as chief executive from April next year. Barnes has been joint group managing director for Aldi UK and Ireland, alongside Roman Heini, since 2010. Heini is stepping down from his, instead taking on the position of chairman [...]
Morrisons, Tesco, Ocado and Marks & Spencer’s share prices soar after UK food sector shows signs of growth February 10, 2015 Supermarkets led the FTSE 100 higher this afternoon, after figures revealed the grocery sector was in growth once again. Morrisons' share price had recorded the biggest gains at pixel time, rising 5.5 per cent. This was on the back of Kantar figures out this morning, showing its sales had fallen 0.4 per cent, the [...]
Two of the big four supermarkets pay less than the cost of production for milk, Sainsbury’s advert claims January 21, 2015 Sainsbury's has revealed how much supermarkets pay farmers for milk- and claims that at least two of the big four stump up less than the cost of production. The figures have been released as part of the grocer's latest ad campaign, which claims that “at Sainsbury's we support our British fresh milk farmers,” asking [...]
From BHS and John Lewis to TSB and the Apple Watch: What got us talking this week? March 13, 2015 Jeremy Clarkson punched a man over a steak. Blurred Lines went from being the song with questionable gender politics to being a Marvin Gaye rip-off. And somewhere above our heads, a pilot got bored and drew rude pictures using GPS flight data. Here is what got us talking at City A.M. 1. After 15 [...]
Diary of a Crowdfunder: Six months on from a transformative funding round February 25, 2015 Frazer Thompson, chief executive of winemaker Chapel Down, explains what it’s like following a successful fundraise We started a journey, 13 years ago now, to transform people’s opinions about English wine. It’s been a long, tough and sometimes frustrating journey. Most people thought we were mad. But some brave folk thought we were not. Over [...]
Jobs at risk as Johnsons reveals plans to shut more than 100 dry cleaning outlets January 6, 2015 A third of Johnsons Dry Cleaners branches are to be shut within the next six months, putting up to 450 jobs at risk. The business, which also operates a larger textile rental arm, said its dry cleaning division had not manage to maintain performance in 2014 and that 109 branches whose leases were up [...]
Inflation basket of goods: Ecigarettes and craft beer in, yoghurt drinks and sat navs out March 17, 2015 A sign of modern life, or a marker of British society's inexorable slide into middle classness? The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has performed its annual reshuffle of the basket of goods, the items it uses to measure inflation. It's all gone a bit… Waitrose-y. Among the additions to the basket are refills for ecigarettes, [...]