Home Retail ups Argos digital shop upgrades April 29, 2015 HOME Retail Group said yesterday that it aims to have more than 200 “digital” Argos stores by the end of the financial year after efforts to modernise its estate helped deliver a 32 per cent rise in full-year profit to £93.8m. Argos will convert between 50 to 75 of its traditional stores into the new [...]
Investors await the result of General Election – London Report May 4, 2015 ALL EYES will be on the political polls this week, as the nation gears up for the General Election on Thursday. With little to separate the popularity of the leading parties, the Conservatives and Labour, many expect no party will gain a majority, while many investors and property buyers are holding off from making decisions [...]
Aldi becomes sixth biggest food retailer but sales growth slows April 8, 2015 ALDI has overtaken Waitrose as the UK’s sixth biggest supermarket, according to figures out yesterday that also cautioned that growth among the discounters was slowing. Aldi’s sales grew by 16.8 per cent in the 12 weeks to 30 March compared with a year earlier, taking its market share to 5.3 per cent, data from Kantar [...]
April Fools’ Day? Norfolk gives a broad hint on Nelson’s Column March 31, 2015 The Capitalist inbox has been swamped by a spate of press releases that can only be described as weird. Take, for instance, a plan to relocate Nelson’s Column from Trafalgar Square to the North Norfolk coast in time for the 210th anniversary of the death of the region’s most famous son. Visit North Norfolk says [...]
Inflation is zero, but retailers and manufacturers are charging you more for less April 14, 2015 Consumer price inflation may be at zero for the second month in a row, but new research suggests the goods we buy are getting smaller while prices are edging up. Take your Tetley's Blend of Both tea, for example. If you bought that in Sainsbury's a few months back it would have been £2.55 for [...]
John Cridland to quit top lobbyist post at the CBI March 29, 2015 The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is looking for a new boss, as its director general John Cridland plans to step down after five years at the top. The business lobby group began advertising for a replacement yesterday. Cridland has spent his entire career at the CBI, joining straight from university as a policy adviser [...]
City activists smell the scent of success: Edward Bramson’s showdown at Electra follows battles over Alliance Trust and John Menzies April 30, 2015 US corporate raider Edward Bramson is closing in on one of the UK’s oldest private equity groups, Electra, six months after he failed to capture the firm. The showdown comes amid a flurry of UK activist raids since the turn of the year, underscored by little-known fund Lakestreet Capital, which yesterday revealed it [...]
City Moves for 23 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 22, 2015 N+1 Singer The corporate advisory and broking firm has appointed Nic Hellyer as director in its corporate finance team. He joins from HSBC, where he was managing director and head of its UK mid-market advisory team. Hellyer has also held roles at UBS and KPMG. Standard Chartered Sir Iain Lobban has been appointed senior adviser [...]
Justin King says Sainsbury’s will outsmart rivals May 7, 2014 JUSTIN King, the outgoing boss of Sainsbury’s, has played down his rivals’ price cutting tactics as a “skirmish” and insisted the supermarket will be as competitive as ever after posting forecast-beating profits. Britain’s third-largest grocer is the only one of the big four to not have formally committed to hundreds of millions of pounds of [...]
Flower power hit by supermarket price wars in UK March 26, 2015 POTATO supplier Producer Investments has found itself in hot water after profits more than halved in the first half, hurt by the supermarket price wars and a bigger-than-expected crop last summer. The Scottish company, which produces and supplies retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, with spuds as well as daffodils, said operating profits fell to [...]