Retail round up: What’s happening on the high street? January 11, 2019 | City Talk Not as bad as it could have been. That’s the general feeling about high street performance over Christmas after major retailers and the supermarkets published their festive figures this week. The British Retail Consortium says that 2018 was the worst Christmas for retails for 10 years but, as ever, the figures show there are winners [...]
Asda and Sainsbury’s mega merger could hit Aldi and Lidl’s trollies October 17, 2018 Britain’s store wars are intensifying by the day but the force is still strong with German discounters Aldi and Lidl. The price-cutters continued to steal market share from the Big Four supermarkets in the 12 weeks to 7 October, figures from the closely-watched Kantar Worldpanel report showed yesterday. Aldi’s sales growth, its fastest since January [...]
Asda sparks petrol pump price war as it cuts costs by 2p per litre September 26, 2018 Supermarket chain Asda cut petrol prices by 2p per litre this morning, sparking a supermarket petrol price war as Morrisons and Sainsbury’s followed suit shortly after. Asda, which accounts for about 7.5 per cent of the fuel market, cut the price cap for its pumps to no more than 126.7p per litre for unleaded [...]
Competition watchdog applies further scrutiny to Sainsbury’s-Asda merger September 19, 2018 Sainsbury’s and Asda’s proposed merger will receive further scrutiny after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said concerns over the deal merit deeper investigation. The watchdog warned that the two supermarkets “overlap in hundreds of local areas”, meaning shoppers could face higher prices or worse service if the two were to merge, after its phase [...]
City heavyweights including L&G’s Nigel Wilson, Sainsbury’s David Tyler and BNY Mellon’s Helena Morrissey join working group to overhaul executive pay September 8, 2015 A new panel of city executives is exploring whether to scrap long-term share awards as part of a radial overhaul of city boardroom culture. The Executive Remuneration Working Group was set up by the Investment Association, which represents the UK's £5.5 trillion asset-management industry, to examine how to simplify executive pay. Daniel Godfrey, chief executive [...]
Ex-Sainsbury’s boss Justin King takes on first big role since leaving September 7, 2015 The former chief executive of Sainsbury's, Justin King, is set to take on his first major role since leaving the supermarket last year. King, who is widely credited with reversing the fortunes of the supermarket chain, is due to become vice-chairman of private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners. "A source close to Terra Firma [...]
UK pensions deficits: FTSE 100 firms fear pension pain as workers retire September 6, 2015 Pension schemes represent a “material risk” for many of the largest companies in the FTSE 100, new research shows. Six firms, including BAE Systems, British Airways-owner International Airlines Group, RSA and Royal Bank of Scotland, all have total disclosed pension liabilities almost double their equity market value, so says JLT Employee Benefits’ quarterly report [...]
National Living Wage will “destroy jobs”, says ex-Sainsbury’s boss Justin King August 29, 2015 Justin King, former chief executive of Sainsbury's, has described the National Living Wage as “ludicrous”, and claims it will “destroy jobs”. Read more: July Budget 2015: Will George Osborne’s new national living wage hit the number of people in work? During a discussion on BBC Radio 4's The New Workplace, due to be aired at [...]
Oil prices keep rising – just in time for the great bank holiday getaway (but the good news is Morrisons and Sainsbury’s have cut petrol prices) August 28, 2015 After Brent crude made its biggest one-day gain in six and a half years yesterday, rising more than 10 per cent to $47.56 per barrel, it looks like oil prices are continuing to rise today – just in time for the great bank holiday getaway. This morning Brent crude was up more than one per [...]
Morrisons pulled up on Match & More price-match advert claims against competitors Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi and Lidl August 26, 2015 Morrisons has been told it must be clearer about its promise to match the prices of competitors, including Aldi and Lidl. The supermarket's Match & More scheme, which is the only one of the big four to match the prices of the German discounters, has been pulled up by the advertising watchdog for not clearly [...]