Rose will keep up Ocado’s appearances – but little else January 22, 2013 WHEN Sir Stuart Rose dipped his toe back in the retail waters by becoming chairman of Blue Inc and backing The Hut last year, it should have been obvious he had his eye on bigger things. But why Ocado? This column – not to mention several high-profile City analysts – have long taken a dim [...]
Sir Stuart’s in line for a shelf stacking role January 22, 2013 SIR STUART ROSE’S retail track record stretches as far back as the 1970s, when he was known to sweep the warehouse floors during his time as a management trainee at Marks & Spencer. Since then his career has taken in shelf stacking, pyjama folding and clothes hanging before he took the top job at Marks [...]
FTSE 100 dragged down by Pearson and Fresnillo January 22, 2013 The FTSE 100 was trading modestly down this morning, although it was still near its highest level in four and a half years. On the blue chip index, education giant Pearson continued its losses from yesterday and shed 2.33 per cent this morning. Yesterday it warned that annual profits would be lower than expected amid [...]
Sir Stuart Rose appointed new Ocado chairman January 22, 2013 Online grocer Ocado has appointed former Marks & Spencer chief executive Sir Stuart Rose as its new chairman. Sir Stuart will succeed Michael Grade as chairman following Ocado’s AGM in May. Rose, who has worked in the retail sector for 41 years, was chief executive of clothing and food retailer Marks & Spencer from 2004 [...]
Ocado chair Michael Grade poised to retire January 21, 2013 OCADO chairman Michael Grade is set to announce his retirement as chairman of the online retailer as early as today. Lord Grade, formerly executive chairman of ITV, has been chairman of Ocado for seven years, overseeing the company’s £800m float three years ago. He is tipped to stand down at Ocado’s annual general meeting in [...]
Ocado boosted by Christmas shopping rush January 15, 2013 ONLINE grocer Ocado said it enjoyed a very merry Christmas after posting a 14 per cent rise in gross sales to £91.6m in the six weeks to 6 January. “It was a very good festive season for us, evidenced by growth in orders, basket size and sales,” chief executive Tim Steiner said. “As has been seen [...]
Retail shares hammered by short sellers January 14, 2013 LEADING hedge funds are making enormous bets against the health of the UK high street, according to figures supplied to City A.M. by data provider Markit. Home Retail Group, the parent company of Argos and Homebase, has more than one in five of its shares out on loan ahead of Thursday’s interim management statement. Short sellers borrow shares [...]
UK consumer price index is forecast higher January 13, 2013 UTILITY prices are expected to have lifted the UK’s consumer price index (CPI), the household spending index due out tomorrow along with a swathe of housing and retail data. “We expect CPI inflation to have edged up to 2.8 per cent year on year in December from 2.7 per cent, and retail price index (RPI) [...]
Accidental bidding at Coutts auction for ambulance charity January 2, 2013 PRIVATE bank Coutts finished 2012 by writing one very large cheque – having raised over £50,000 for the London Air Ambulance charity in the last 12 months. Staff handed over £51,705 to the trauma charity – after fundraising activities including a comedy night, treasure hunt, abseil and auction. But The Capitalist hears that one new [...]
Waitrose rise in sales sparks hope for Xmas December 3, 2012 WAITROSE, the upmarket supermarket chain owned by John Lewis, said shoppers stocking up their pantries with Christmas staples helped drive sales up 7.8 per cent in the week to 1 December. Heston Blumenthal-branded Mulled Cider Gammon and Cropwell Bishop Potted Blue Stilton were among the best-sellers, with sales of the latter up 34.5 per cent. [...]