The nightmare before Christmas: Aldi and Lidl hammer Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco October 21, 2015 Britain's biggest supermarkets are facing a crunch Christmas as the pressure from German discounters Aldi and Lidl is ramped up, with experts warning of a bloody battle for this year’s festive season. The German duo have both seen growth rates return to over 17 per cent in the past three months, according to data from [...]
The nightmare before Christmas October 20, 2015 Aldi and Lidl hammer British supermarkets BRITAIN’S biggest supermarkets are facing a crunch Christmas as the pressure from German discounters Aldi and Lidl is ramped up, with experts warning of a bloody battle for this year’s festive season. The German duo have both seen growth rates return to over 17 per cent in the past [...]
Aldi, M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s rocked by investigation revealing dire working conditions October 19, 2015 Three UK supermarket giants are launching inquiries into working conditions at fruit packaging plants and another has suspended all its orders after a Channel 4 news investigation revealed harsh conditions for migrant workers at an FW Mansfield plant in Kent. Aldi has suspended all orders from one plant. An Aldi spokesperson said: Our terms and conditions clearly state that growers [...]
Supermarket price wars: Sainsbury’s and Asda kick off new cost-cutting battle January 6, 2015 Asda and J Sainsbury fired the latest salvo yesterday in the supermarket price war, with Tesco also expected to launch a round of price cuts tomorrow as the big four battle it out to win over shoppers’ loyalty. Walmart-owned Asda pledged to spend £300m lowering prices in the first quarter of 2015 as part of [...]
Vocalink is reportedly in talks to merge with rival Sia November 5, 2015 Payments infrastructure company Vocalink is reportedly in talks for a £2bn merger with Italian counterpart Sia. According to Sky News the discussions are said to be at a preliminary stage, and could take several months before an agreement is reached. Vocalink declined to comment. VocaLink runs the Faster Payments Service and BACs which handle trillions [...]
Christmas adverts 2015: What retailers must do to rival John Lewis when it comes to winning consumers’ hearts and minds November 3, 2015 People around the country celebrate (or lament) the fact that Christmas seems to be starting earlier with each passing year. Fairylights adorn high streets, the newest children’s toys fill up shop windows and festive sandwich flavours pop up in supermarkets, often before the Halloween decorations have even come down. Love it or hate it, there’s [...]
Sainsbury’s counts the cost of supermarket price war November 8, 2015 Sainsbury's is expected to unveil a near 25 per cent slide in first half underlying profits on Wednesday, as efforts to compete with rivals and stay ahead in the supermarket price war hurt margins. Analysts at Barclays expect margins to fall by 60 basis points to 2.5 per cent and underlying profit before tax to decline by [...]
Homeward bound HSBC, City Hall race and oil glut make a busy 2016 January 7, 2016 Forecasting events in the City is frequently a fool’s errand but one thing’s clear from the first week of 2016: it is going to be a tough year for much of corporate Britain. Here’s where I think most of the action will be. 1. Among the first big decisions of the year will be delivered when [...]
UK activist fund Crystal Amber vies for change at Sainsbury’s December 7, 2014 UK activist investment fund Crystal Amber is in talks with several overseas investors about buying shares in Sainsbury’s, as part of a plan to shake-up Britain’s third largest grocer. Aim-listed Crystal Amber is understood to be looking at Sainsbury’s on behalf of a big American investor interested in buying a sizeable stake in the food [...]
Discounters Aldi and Lidl pick up the space race left by Big Four supermarkets November 15, 2015 The big four supermarkets may have called an end to the space race. But for Aldi and Lidl the race has just begun, after new figures show the discounters have submitted plans for nearly five times as many stores. The latest data from construction data firm ABI Barbour shows that Aldi has submitted 93 planning [...]