Supermarkets score for both value and reputation December 15, 2009 In the highly-competitive world of supermarkets, there are two basic types of brand: those which are “cheap and cheerful”, which focus on low cost while maintaining reasonable quality; and those which cost more but make a feature of the higher quality products. These show up very clearly in the respective average BrandIndex scores from the [...]
Bank to boost 5 note circulation December 6, 2009 The Bank of England is ready to press banks to increase the availability of £5 notes in their cash machines after conducting two trial projects. It asked high street bank HSBC and supermarket J Sainsbury to issue more £5 notes, and feedback from HSBC showed the case for stocking cash machine networks with fivers was [...]
Terrace Hill restructures debt November 23, 2009 Property developer and investor Terrace Hill Group has arranged a £39.3m debt refinancing after three months of negotiations. The firm, which is active in food store developments and recently fixed £28m of forward financing for a Sainsbury’s store, has agreed £35.1m of the refinancing with an unnamed ‘major European bank’, with a revised maturity of [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 22, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphWOMEN DIRECTORS EARN 50PC LESS THAN MENFemale board directors in the FTSE 350 are being paid half as much as their male counterparts, new research has found. The average female board director took home £178,246 in salary, bonuses, benefits and pension contributions in the 2008-09 financial year, while the average male director [...]
Sales grow at Morrisons November 19, 2009 WM Morrison yesterday unveiled strong third quarter sales, a day after the City and investors were left reeling from the shock departure of its chief executive Marc Bolland. The group said like-for-like sales rose 4.3 per cent in the 13 weeks to 1 November, just below expectations, as slowing food inflation pegged back growth from [...]
ON BOARD AT LADBROKES November 18, 2009 LADBROKES, the bookmaking group, has appointed two high-profile non-executive directors. The group has invited Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey (left) and J Sainsbury chief financial officer Darren Shapland to join the board with immediate effect.
Bid talk pushes Dana higher as FTSE 100 loses its grip November 17, 2009 A retreat in miners and banks offset strength in defensive utilities and food retailers yesterday, pushing the FTSE 100 lower by 0.7 per cent lower, ending four consecutive sessions of gains. The index closed 36.74 points lower at 5,345.93, giving back some gains from the previous session when shares hit a 14-month closing high. Mid-cap [...]
Sainsbury’s ramps up price war November 17, 2009 J Sainsbury has fired another shot in the supermarket discount war by matching Tesco with a buy one, get one free later offer. The offer, which has been welcomed by food waste campaigners, allows shoppers to pick up their free product when they want it via a voucher system. Sainsbury’s said its offer will also [...]
People still value the personal touch from banks November 17, 2009 LAST week saw the launch of NatWest’s personal banking iPhone app, in line with the banking sector’s efforts to cut costs and improve user experience by moving their operations online. Recent YouGov research undertaken on behalf of Deloitte points to the risks in an online strategy: customers place high value on face-to-face interactions in their [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 16, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES MOBILE MAKERS ACT TO CURB FAKE PHONESThe global mobile phone industry is trying to rein in the rapid worldwide spread of illegitimate handsets by introducing a stricter regime for the allocation of handset identification numbers. The move comes as unlicensed Chinese handset manufacturers have started flooding the world market with exports in a [...]