Mooove over Sainsbury’s: Waitrose claims its dairy farmers get the cream of milk prices January 26, 2015 Premium supermarket Waitrose has lifted the lid on its dairy practices following Sainsbury's attack ad last week, insisting it pays “a fair price” for its milk. The John Lewis Partnership-owned grocer was among those to appear on the naughty list of businesses that were accused of not supporting British fresh milk farmers. The [...]
Sainsbury’s axes 500 jobs as part of cost-cutting drive January 13, 2015 Sainsbury's has announced plans to axe 500 jobs as part of a cost-cutting exercise, as the UK supermarket battle continues to heat up. Sainsbury's, which is the UK's second largest supermarket, said the job cuts would be across "all divisions and grades in our store support centres". A consultation on the job losses will start [...]
Ocado sales jump 19.2 per cent as company says it expects to keep growing ahead of the curve March 10, 2015 The figures Ocado’s group sales jumped 19.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 22 February, rising to £271.1m, from £227.5m during the same period last year. Meanwhile, retail sales were up a similarly impressive 15.2 per cent to £252.0m, two months after the company reported its first profit. Ocado said that on 22 February it had [...]
Sainsbury’s braced for first loss in a decade as supermarkets move to downsize May 5, 2015 Battling with excess space and a revival at Tesco, Sainsbury’s is having to fight harder than ever. It is early on a weekday morning, and the first wave of customers are yet to arrive at Sainsbury’s revamped store in Wandsworth – its aisles stacked high with everything from garden furniture to Le Creuset-style saucepans [...]
Tesco tells a third of senior directors they face redundancy or demotion as Dave Lewis’ restructure begins to bite January 16, 2015 Tesco has started warning senior directors that they face redundancy or demotion, as part of a restructure designed to get the supermarket back on track. Around a third of these key decision-makers have been told by Tesco top brass that they face redundancy or “changed responsibilities at a lower work level”, according to [...]
Which supermarket wine wins top of the shops? Corks pop as M&S nets 73 medals December 2, 2014 Here's one thing the discounters aren't winning at. Aldi may just have launched its own range of fine wines, but this Christmas we'll be raising a toast to Marks & Spencer, which has just netted 73 medals at the International Wine Challenge (IWC). The supermarket won five gold medals, 21 silvers and 47 bronzes for [...]
Sir Philip Green sold BHS for £1 – but can the high street stalwart be salvaged? March 16, 2015 It’s a rare day when retail mogul and the official patron saint of lost causes Sir Philip Green decides to throw in the towel. The tycoon’s decision last week to back out of BHS after 15 years of ownership and offload it to a previously unknown group of investors for £1 set the City’s retail [...]
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 [...]
Supermarket wars: Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons feeling the pressure in one share price chart January 8, 2015 Tesco’s share price is up today, and by a lot: 9.8 per cent at the time of writing. All in all, though, it’s been a bad past 12 months for supermarkets, with Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons share prices all sliding against the FTSE, which has itself dropped over the same period. Tesco’s story has been [...]
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 [...]