Carlyle buys Hardy’s wine owner Accolade in $1bn deal April 5, 2018 US private equity giant Carlyle has bought Australia’s Accolade Wine, owner of brands such as Hardy’s, for one billion Australian dollars (£550m). Accolade Wine was owned by Australian private equity firm Champ Private Equity, which created Accolade in 2011 after buying two wine businesses from Constellation Brands for £159m. Read more: Lidl’s created a chatbot [...]
Store wars: Sainsbury’s and Asda mega-merger heats up race to become Britain’s ultimate supermarket superpower April 30, 2018 The race to become Britain’s ultimate supermarket superpower grew suddenly more interesting over the weekend as Sainsbury’s and Walmart-owned Asda revealed they are in merger talks to become Britain’s largest grocer. The two supermarkets, which have both lost market share, are seeking to join forces in a bid to topple Tesco, the current market leader [...]
Having a house near a supermarket can boost your house price by as much as £43,000 June 9, 2018 Owning a home close to a chain supermarket could potentially boost the house price by £21,500 on average, according to research by Lloyds Bank. The new research also showed that areas within range of so-called premium supermarkets, such as Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's, will command house prices which are on average 12 per [...]
Tesco share price falls despite taking the fight to supermarket rivals with rising revenues October 3, 2018 Tesco aimed to cement its status as the UK’s largest supermarket today with rising revenue and operating margins as it fights off competition from merging rivals and cheaper competitors. However, shares fell more than seven per cent in morning trading as the retailer missed a key profit metric. The figures The retail giant posted a 13 [...]
Aldi knocks Waitrose off supermarket top spot while shoppers turn to Iceland and Ocado for online groceries February 12, 2018 Aldi has knocked Waitrose off the top spot as the UK’s favourite supermarket for in-store shopping. Customers rated their experience at the budget retailer as best in Which?’s annual survey. Last year’s most popular supermarket Waitrose fell to fourth-highest, below Marks & Spencer and Lidl. Respondents rated Aldi’s value for money very highly, and were [...]
Amazon eyed buying Waitrose but was held off by John Lewis Partnership May 6, 2018 Amazon considered an acquisition of Waitrose last year, but was blocked from entering formal talks, reports suggest. A senior executive at the online shopping giant’s UK arm pushed for a meeting with the John Lewis Partnership but was “shut down” by the board, the Sunday Times reported today. The tech company’s acquisition of Whole Foods [...]
Morrisons earnings preview: Grocery chain faces uphill battle amid Asda-Sainsbury’s merger May 7, 2018 Grocery chain Morrisons is set to announce its first quarter trading results on Thursday, and the company may have a lot to prove. Analysts at Barclays forecast sales growth of 1.7 per cent, below the company’s figures for the fourth quarter of 2017. If so, it would be the lowest sales growth since the end [...]
Majestic Wine reveal solid FY figures, but outlook is cautious June 14, 2018 Majestic Wine revealed solid full-year figures this morning, but issued a cautious outlook. Revenue rose by 2.3% to £476.1 million, broadly in line with estimates. Pre-tax profits jumped by 33% to £17.2 million, meeting analysts’ forecasts. The total dividend was increased by 40% to 7.2p, which comfortably topped the consensus estimate of 5.67p. The wine [...]
NatWest has recruited a “digital human” called Cora to help customers February 21, 2018 NatWest has developed a new “digital human” prototype called Cora to have conversations with customers and help them out with some 200 banking queries. Since the start of last year, NatWest has been using a text-based chat bot which customers can use on its online help pages. Now though, the bank has drawn upon “advances [...]
Ocado’s tech prowess must be celebrated May 18, 2018 It took a mega deal with a US grocer for Ocado to prove that it’s no basket case. The online grocer saw shares soar more than 80 per cent during trading yesterday after it announced that Kroger, one of the world’s biggest grocery chains with annual sales of $122bn (£90bn), will now use Ocado’s technology to [...]