Grocery sales: Ocado on top as supermarkets snag 58m more visits as UK exited lockdown May 25, 2021 As the UK’s vaccination programme pushes on, supermarkets have enjoyed 58m more shopping visits in the first quarter of this year than last year, according to industry data released today. Supermarkets actually had more visits in the 12 weeks to 16 May, than when panic buying gripped shoppers at the start of the pandemic, market [...]
Forget Angelina Jolie: Support bees this week by drinking rum May 21, 2021 If you hadn’t already gathered from the pictures all over the internet of Angelina Jolie covered in bees – well, more of a smattering than a covering to be fair – this week is Bee Awareness Week, when the plight of the bee should be foremost in our minds. Wyre Forest’s eco-distiller Wildjac’s Honey Spiced [...]
Wall Street slips as banking stocks and stronger pound weigh on FTSE 100 May 17, 2021 Wall Street opened lower this afternoon, reversing a strong recovery late last week as investors turned their attention back to inflation worries. The Dow Jones slipped 0.02 per cent and the S&P 500 opened lower by 0.09 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.46 per cent at the opening bell. It came after London’s [...]
Morrisons online sales continue to soar despite lockdown easing May 11, 2021 Morrisons said online sales have continued to soar this year despite the lifting of lockdown restrictions. In an update this morning the supermarket chain said online sales were up 113 per cent in the 14 weeks ended 9 May compared to the same period last year. Internet sales helped boost group like-for-like sales excluding fuel [...]
Secondary fundraising by retailers nears £2bn as firms eye M&A opportunities May 10, 2021 Listed retail companies have raised nearly £2bn in the past year as they sought to strengthen their balance sheets amid the pandemic. Now, they are starting to eye M&A opportunities. In recent years, listed firms in the UK have relied less on the public markets with private equity firms often considered a more attractive option. [...]
The turf wars for on-demand delivery won’t be won with a fast and dirty business model May 8, 2021 Getir, Dijia, Weezy, Zapp and Fancy. There is a handful of the new on-demand grocery delivery apps that have flooded London’s streets over the last few months. Behind each of them is a fierce turf war for customers, as they try and capitalise on the now ubiquitous presence of food delivery. The surge of grocery [...]
FTSE 100 ends the day on a high while Dow hits new record May 5, 2021 Heavyweight mining stocks pushed the FTSE 100 higher today while Wall Street opened higher on strong jobs data as the Dow Jones hit a record high. The blue-chip index closed 1.68 per cent higher, buoyed by chemicals group Croda’s shares soaring towards the top of the index after it announced a business review assessment. The [...]
FTSE ends day with slump as Wall Street’s Nasdaq plunges nearly three per cent May 4, 2021 The FTSE 100 slipped back below the 7,000 point mark by the market close, despite a strong start to the week’s trading after the Bank Holiday weekend. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.67 per cent by the end of the day, with banking stocks, including HSBC Holdings, Barclays and Standard Chartered posing the biggest drag on [...]
FTSE closes higher as US stocks pause after busy week for earnings April 30, 2021 The FTSE 100 closed higher today as the economic recovery optimism poised the index for its largest monthly gain since November last year. The blue-chip index rose 0.2 per cent, boosted by positive earnings updates from AstraZeneca and Smurfit Kappa. Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 also rose by 0.56 per cent. Both indexes have risen [...]
Asda beats competitors to become fastest growing Big Four supermarket for first time in more than two years April 27, 2021 Asda beat its competitors to become the fastest growing of the biggest UK supermarkets for the first time in more than two years as consumers ventured further for their food shopping. The latest data showed Asda, which was recently sold by US retail giant Walmart to the Issa brothers and TDR Capital, increased its market [...]