Waitrose and discounters thriving September 24, 2013 DISCOUNT supermarket Aldi saw year-on-year sales growth of a record 32.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to 15 September, according to new industry data, as upmarket rival Waitrose also upped market share. Waitrose achieved growth of 9.7 per cent year-on-year, Kantar Worldpanel said, well above market growth of 4.2 per cent. But Tesco, which [...]
Bridgepoint in €585m deal September 3, 2013 PRET a Manger owner Bridgepoint yesterday beat off stiff competition to buy AHT Cooling, which supplies fridges and freezes to supermarkets including Lidl and Aldi. The private equity firm will pay €585m to Quadriga Capital and Partners group to takeover the Austrian-based company. City A.M. understands the deal is backed by about €280m of senior [...]
Aldi hitting the mainstream as customers seek value January 8, 2013 THIS time last year poor results at Tesco shocked investors and the grocery sector, although followers of YouGov’s BrandIndex and this column would have been aware of their problems a month earlier. With the all-important Christmas season now behind us I’ve taken a look back at 2012 to see what the big customer perception stories [...]
Rothschild to advise on Poundland’s flotation November 4, 2013 BUDGET retailer Poundland has lined up Rothschild to advise on its upcoming public offering, which is expected to value the firm at more than £700m. The investment bank, which declined to comment on the issue, is expected to bring in other advisers to work on the flotation in the next few weeks. Poundland – which [...]
Sainsbury’s sales boost retailer to a larger share of the market August 28, 2013 SAINSBURY’S has successfully raised its share of the market through 2013, with sales growing as other retailers slip behind. In the 12 weeks to 18 August, Sainsbury’s saw a 49 per cent hike in sales, when compared to the same period last year, rising from £3.86bn to £4.05bn. According to the figures, collected from 30,000 [...]
Stelios is set to take on budget supermarkets August 4, 2013 ON THE ground floor of a tower block in Croydon, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou plans to open the first of many low-cost supermarkets under his Easy brand. Stelios said yesterday the pilot store, at the bottom of the former Metlife building recently purchased by EasyGroup, will serve as “a low risk experiment in a new market [...]
Ikea latest in horsemeat scandal February 25, 2013 A Czech veterinary authority has found that the meatballs of Swedish home products company Ikea are contaminated with horse. Ikea is the latest to be implicated in a scandal that has been a public relations blow to other including Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl. Horse found in IKEA meatballs – not like them to include [...]
Tesco voted worst supermarket in survey of 11,000 UK shoppers February 21, 2013 TESCO has been voted the worst of Britain’s nine major supermarkets in a poll carried out by one of the leading consumer groups. More than 11,000 Which? members rated the supermarkets with customer scores based on customer satisfaction and the likelihood they would recommend it to a friend. Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket group, came [...]
Sainsbury’s takes the lead at Christmas January 8, 2013 SAINSBURY posted the highest sales growth of the so called big four grocers in the run-up to Christmas and was the only one to grow market share, data revealed yesterday. Figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed Britain’s grocery market grew 3.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 23 December, with the strongest growth at the [...]
Horse meat in Tesco burgers January 15, 2013 HORSE meat has been found in beef burgers sold by leading British and Irish supermarkets, it emerged last night. One sample of the meat in Tesco’s Everyday Value Beef Burgers was found to be 29 per cent horse, according to Ireland’s Food Safety Authority (FSAI). Tesco has responded by pulling the burgers from its stores. [...]