Retail data to show UK spending boost from Black Friday – London Report December 7, 2014 Black Friday is expected to have added a healthy boost to November’s retail sales, which the British Retail Consortium is due to announce tomorrow. Howard Archer, of Global IHS Insight, said: “While consumers are always keen to take advantage of bargains, particularly in the run-up to Christmas, the desire for bargains has undoubtedly been heightened [...]
Inflation falling after price wars over Christmas – London week ahead January 11, 2015 CONSUMER price inflation figures for December, due out tomorrow, will shine a light on to what extent falling oil prices and intense retail competition have boosted spending power in the UK. Analysts says the fall in inflation is likely to have been tempered by the fact that there was more retail discounting than usual in [...]
Labour’s business woes: Industry leaders savage Ed Miliband’s attack on Boots boss February 3, 2015 Ed Miliband's decision to come out all guns blazing against Boots boss Stefano Pessina may have back-fired after a swathe of business leaders took to the media to condemn the Labour leader. Speaking yesterday at event for young voters, the Labour leader hit back at Pessina's claim that a Labour government would be a "catastrophe" [...]
Morrisons exec is charged with insider dealing September 29, 2014 MORRISONS’ former treasurer and head of tax has been charged with insider dealing ahead of the retailer’s £216m tie-up with Ocado last year. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said yesterday it had charged Paul Coyle with two offences of insider dealing. He will now face criminal proceeding and is set to appear before Harrogate Magistrates’ [...]
Morrisons ousts boss after poor holiday season January 13, 2015 BRITAIN’S embattled grocery sector claimed its first casualty of the year after Morrisons sacked its chief executive Dalton Philips following poor Christmas sales. Shares climbed 4.5 per cent as the City welcomed the prospect of a new boss to revive the supermarket’s fortunes. Morrisons’ incoming chairman Andy Higginson said Philips has “had a good run” [...]
Ocado’s growth slows but first profit is in sight March 12, 2014 ONLINE grocer Ocado yesterday said it was on course to report its first ever annual profit this year after strong first quarter sales. Retail sales rose 18 per cent to £218m in the 12 weeks to 23 February. However, this was below what analysts were expecting and a slowdown on the 20.1 per cent growth [...]
Ocado sales soar as Morrisons site gathers pace March 12, 2014 Online grocer Ocado has reported a jump in retail sales of 18 per cent to £218m, for the 12 weeks to 23 February. Average orders per week rocketed 18 per cent to over 155,000. Tim Steiner, chief executive officer of Ocado, commented: We are pleased with the continued growth in our business. We remain committed [...]
Supermarkets’ shares tumble September 29, 2014 BRITAIN’S struggling supermarkets continued their bad run as the worst performing stocks of the year through September, falling by as much as 20 per cent across the month. Ocado led the plunge, with its share price falling 19.5 per cent, followed by Tesco’s 16.7 per cent. But the shops are fighting to win customers and [...]
Analyst Views: Has Ocado’s performance in the first quarter changed your outlook? March 12, 2014 CLIVE BLACK | SHORE CAPITAL Fundamentally we remain of the view that it is a distinctive business model in that it doesn’t work when it comes to earnings. The share price remains anomalous to our minds and the read across to other highly rated online retailers is spurious in our view. JAMES GRZINIC | JEFFERIES [...]
Ocado founder Gissing to leave as sales increase February 4, 2014 OCADO’s Jason Gissing is to step down, leaving chief executive Tim Steiner as the only co-founder still at the grocer, which posted sales growth of 15 per cent yesterday. Despite growing revenues, the firm suffered a pre-tax loss of £12.5m for the year to 1 December, compared with £600,000 the previous year. The group said [...]