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 [...]
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 [...]
YouTube ranking: John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Burberry and Marks and Spencer have the best Christmas ads of 2014 December 2, 2014 It’s only the second day of December, but we've already been treated to a sneak peak of the joy ahead for the Christmas season via the medium of advertising. This year, retailers battled it out with penguins, soldiers and celebs in a bid to get the public into the festive spirit and spend their pennies- although [...]
Whitbread’s Costa coffee chain to pay baristas above National Living Wage September 30, 2015 First it was Starbucks. Now coffee chain Costa has also followed suit by announcing a pay hike for its staff ahead of the government’s national living wage. From tomorrow Costa baristas in London (of all ages) will earn a minimum of £8.20 an hour, rising to over £9, the Whitbread-owned chain said. Meanwhile staff working [...]
Tesco and Sainsbury’s vs Asda and Morrisons: Britain’s biggest retailers row over Sunday trading laws August 5, 2015 British businesses are readying for a fight over government plans to shake up Sunday trading rules. The government will today open a formal consultation on proposals to give local areas the power to allow large shops to open for longer on Sundays. Current laws allow smaller shops to stay open all day, but limit larger [...]
UK grocery sector shows green shoots of recovery as distress levels fall October 19, 2015 Britain’s supermarket sector is showing signs of recovery, according to new research from Begbies Traynor that reveals the number of companies struggling to stay afloat declined for the first time in over two years. The business recovery specialist’s latest Red Flag Alert research, which monitors the health of UK companies, shows levels of “significant” financial [...]
Former Sainsbury’s boss Justin King bats away online store threat November 3, 2014 Former Sainsbury’s boss Justin King yesterday warned grocers not to neglect bricks-and-mortar stores at the expense of online shopping. The former FTSE 100 CEO, who left Sainsbury’s in July after 10 years at the helm, said 96p in every pound spent on food in Britain was still done so in physical stores. “If you remember [...]
Supermarkets Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons told they must shrink to survive in war against discounters Aldi and Lidl November 17, 2014 Supermarkets need to dramatically scale down their store estates if they want to stop haemorrhaging sales and return to growth, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs who sent a stark warning to the retail industry. In a research note published yesterday, Goldman Sachs said Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons must cut space by around 20 per [...]
Trouble for the big four supermarkets as Aldi and Lidl growth speeds up again October 20, 2015 German discounters Aldi and Lidl both saw growth rates return to over 17 per cent over the last three months, dashing hopes for the Big Four that a slowdown earlier in the year may have been part of a longer term trend. The cut-price chains have been the fastest-growing grocers in the sector for some time now. But in [...]
Pay hike on the cards as Oliver Bonas becomes first UK high street chain to pay living wage August 31, 2015 Gifts and homeware retailer Oliver Bonas has provided a major boost to the high street after committing to paying its staff the living wage. The chain, which has 43 UK stores as well as a warehouse and head office in Chessington, announced it will start paying all directly-employed staff and third party contractors at [...]