Sainsbury’s cuts market share decline as Aldi and Lidl soar June 25, 2019 Sainsbury’s has cut short the decline in its market share as discount rivals Aldi and Lidl continue to boost sales. Customer spend at Sainsbury’s dipped 0.6 per cent in the three months to 16 June, an improvement on the 1.2 per cent decline in the previous period following its failed merger with Asda. Read more: [...]
‘Ideological war’ over future of AI as businesses warn against robot tax June 15, 2019 Businesses and trade bodies have urged the government and industry to embrace the rise of robots and better prepare workers and future generations. The business, energy, and industrial strategy (Beis) committee is in the midst of an inquiry into the automation and the future of work in the UK. Read more: The robots are coming [...]
Morrisons and Amazon: Retail’s newest BFFs June 14, 2019 By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. Extending its relationship with the world’s biggest retailer is shrewd business by Morrisons’ CEO. The quiet revolution at Morrisons (LSE:MRW) under chief executive David Potts continues to impress after the supermarket chain extended its partnership with online giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). Whereas its rivals have looked to grow through consolidation – with Tesco (LSE:TSCO) buying Booker and Sainsbury’s (LSE:SBRY) trying to [...]
Ocado pumps £17m into vertical farming joint venture June 10, 2019 Online grocer Ocado has invested £17m in the emerging vertical farming industry as it looks to bolster its technology offering. Vertical farming involves the production of food in indoor facilities, where crops are grown on a series of levels in a controlled environment. Read more: Ocado set to cut 400 jobs as it looks to [...]
M&S looks set to survive FTSE 100 drop amid £600m rights issue May 29, 2019 Marks & Spencer looks set to remain in the FTSE 100 through the skin of its teeth in next week’s reshuffle after launching a £600m rights issue to fund its joint venture with Ocado. City speculation that the department store chain could drop out of the blue-chip index has mounted after it reported a 10 [...]
Four key things we learned from Marks & Spencer’s results May 22, 2019 There were not expectations of a strong set of results from Marks & Spencer today. The profit drop was expected and profit before tax of £532m was actually in the higher end of the forecast range. However, a share price decline of four per cent shows that these were still a disappointing set of results for investors. [...]
Marks & Spencer shares fall as profits decimated amid restructuring efforts May 22, 2019 Profit before tax at retailer Marks & Spencer fell nearly ten per cent in the last financial year, it said today as it announced plans to close 85 stores. The figures M&S said profit before tax for the year to 31 March was £532.2m, down 9.9 per cent from £580.9m the previous year. Revenue fell [...]
M&S braced for fresh decline in profits as store closures continue May 19, 2019 Marks & Spencer is set to report a sharp decline in profits for the full year as it looks to beef up its online offering amid a raft of store closures. The high street stalwart is expected to post pre-tax profits of roughly £520m in its full-year results of Wednesday, a fall of 10 per cent on [...]
Starbucks’ rival Luckin Coffee sees share price double on debut May 17, 2019 China's Luckin Coffee shares opened at $25 on Friday morning despite recent poor IPO performances. It was 47 per cent more than the issue price of $17 as the Starbuck's rival raised $561m to give it a pre-trading valuation of around $4bn. Read more: Thomas Cook shares crash 40 per cent as investors urged to sell [...]
Ocado set to cut 400 jobs as it looks to rebuild Andover warehouse after fire May 17, 2019 Ocado has said it will slash as many as 400 jobs after a huge fire destroyed its distribution centre in Andover. The delivery firm’s flagship automated warehouse in Hampshire was razed to the ground in February after a three-day inferno. Read more: Waitrose outlines £1bn online shopping plan Ocado initially tried to find a suitable [...]