Analyst Views: What do you think of the strategy announced by Sainsbury’s? November 12, 2014 NICLA DI PALMA | BREWIN DOLPHIN What disappoints us is that management did not take a more aggressive stance with closing underperforming stores. Instead, Coupe will try to increase the non-food offer and possibly introduce some concessions. Management is loath to shrink, although we believe they could have taken the extra step. DARREN SHIRLEY | [...]
Sainsbury’s share price edges up as it sells pharmacy business for £125m July 29, 2015 Shares in Sainsbury's rose 0.7 per cent to 261.1p after it announced a deal with the German owner of UK chain LloydsPharmacy to sell its pharmacy business for £125m. Read more: Growth at Co-op for the first time in a year as Tesco and Asda decline yet again As part of the deal, Celesio’s LloydsPharmacy will [...]
London house prices: Property in the outer boroughs have proved to be the best investments in 2015. Can they keep it up? December 11, 2015 It’s not like London boroughs are in competition with each other, but if they were, then 2015 has really thrown up some interesting winners and losers in the property market. A new survey published this week by estate agent comparison website GetAgent.co.uk shows that the real success stories in terms of asking price growth and [...]
Asda promises turnaround after sales hit rock bottom August 19, 2015 ASDA chief executive Andy Clarke insisted that the company was seeing the first “green shoots” of a recovery despite revealing its worst ever quarterly result in the 16 years it has been owned by US chain Wal-Mart. The supermarket chain, which recently lost its position as Britain’s second-largest food retailer to Sainsbury’s, said like-for-like sales [...]
My Local: Mike Greene’s new convenience chain has a tough task ahead of it after Morrisons’ management October 26, 2015 Today’s grocery market is an unforgiving place for established supermarkets, let alone new retailers on the block. Many supermarkets are struggling against the seemingly inexorable changes sweeping the grocery industry. They face falling prices and shifting shopping habits, with shoppers moving simultaneously online and to the discount retailers. It is against this backdrop that Mike [...]
German discounter Aldi pledges to pay all UK staff above National Living Wage October 26, 2015 Aldi has set out to trump its supermarket rivals on pay by announcing today that it will pay all UK staff "significantly" above the living wage. The discount food retailer said all UK employees will be paid at least £8.40 an hour, and £9.45 in London from February 2016. This is ahead of the government’s national living wage of £7.20 an [...]
Tesco wins court battle against Sainsbury’s over Price Promise November 10, 2014 SAINSBURY’S claim that Tesco’s Price Promise campaign was unlawful and like comparing “apples with pears” has been thrown out by a High Court judge. Sainsbury’s complained that, when applied to Tesco’s own label products and fresh food, the price comparisons were misleading, unfair and unlawful. The promise involves a pledge to match Sainsbury’s, Asda and [...]
New York and fuel trim FTSE – London Report October 2, 2015 UK SHARES outperformed their European counterparts yesterday as mining and oil and gas companies rose, although weakness on Wall Street trimmed the gains. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed just 10.86 points higher, up 0.2 per cent at 6,072.47 points, having been up by more than one per cent for most of the session. Mining [...]
Sainsbury’s vs John Lewis Christmas advert 2014 battle: Which is better? November 14, 2014 Sainsbury’s has come out of nowhere to apparently topple John Lewis from its position as annual bearer of Christmas tidings and try to take its festive advertising crown. Traditionally feted for creating the best Christmas ad of the year, the retailer – and viewers – have been blindsided by darkhorse Sainsbury’s which earlier this week [...]
Best of the Brokers for 29 September 2015 September 29, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com HOME RETAIL GROUP Cantor Fitzgerald believes Home Retail Group has reached rock bottom after a year of underperformance in the stock. It has therefore upgraded its recommendation from “hold” to “buy” and kept its target price steady at 195p. The broker said that [...]