Morrisons fails to convince despite Ocado deal City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. It talks the talk, and a 6 per cent dividend yield is attractive, but can this £50 billion grocer walk the walk? Morrisons (LSE:MRW) offered more evidence of its "ever-improving shape" after a robust trading update and intriguing deal to re-write its online partnership with Ocado. While the supermarket's shares [...]
Is it time for Mike Coupe to check out as Sainsbury’s boss? Mike Coupe was met with rapturous applause from his fellow directors when he stepped up to the microphone this morning, as he hailed the coming of an era in Sainsbury’s history that would see it thrive having merged with long-time rival, Asda. Coupe spoke boldly about price cuts and cost savings, and finished with a [...]
Sainsbury’s profit plummets after spending £46m on failed Asda merger Sainsbury’s profits tumbled 42 per cent last year as the supermarket giant spent £46m on its failed merger with Asda, it revealed this morning. Read more: Watchdog kills Sainsbury's-Asda merger: What went wrong? The supermarket suffered a body blow last week when the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) banned the proposed merger “in its entirety”, a [...]
Can Just Eat deliver the City what it wants? April 29, 2019 On Wednesday morning most eyes in the City will be on Mike Coupe, the Sainsbury’s chief executive battling to keep his job. In the firm’s Holborn HQ the grocery veteran will set out his Plan B after the UK competition watchdog crushed his dreams of a merger with Asda. Read more: Shortsellers increase bets against [...]
Sainsbury’s: Buyers bet that shares have seen the low April 26, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. Trading within a whisker of a record low, a lot of bad news is already written into the share price. Yesterday’s humiliation of Sainsbury (J) (LSE:SBRY) and its boss Mike Coupe has not stopped investors from piling into the supermarket giant’s shares in the belief the chain can bounce [...]
Competition watchdog kills Sainsbury’s £7.3bn Asda merger: What went wrong? April 25, 2019 Almost a year to the day since Sainsbury’s first revealed that it was in merger talks with Asda, it has all come crashing down. In late April 2018 the two retail giants were losing market share to German discounters Aldi and Lidl, and the threat of Amazon moving into the grocery sector was very real. [...]
Sainsbury’s and Asda double down on £1bn price cut pledge to salvage deal March 19, 2019 Sainsbury’s and Asda have outlined their pledge this morning to slash shop prices as a result of a planned merger, doubling down on efforts to push through a major tie-up despite being dealt a recent devastating blow by Britain's competition watchdog. The two grocery giants, who suffered a setback last month when the Competition and Markets [...]
Chickens come home to roost for Mike Coupe as Sainsbury-Asda deal dies February 22, 2019 | City Talk Mike Coupe was a happy chappy back in April. Notably he was caught on camera humming the lyrics to the gold digger's song – 'we're in the money' etc, after announcing a supermarket mega merger like no other. This week however the companies' complete lack of understanding of the Competition and Markets Authority has come [...]
Tesco and M&S reveal stockpiling amid concerns of a ‘no deal’ Brexit January 12, 2019 Two of the UK’s biggest supermarkets have revealed they are stockpiling food in case of a “no deal” Brexit. Both Tesco and Marks & Spencer have confirmed they are stockpiling long-life food such as packets and tins ahead of the UK leaving the EU on March 29. M&S chief executive, Steve Rowe, admitted his company’s [...]
Sainsbury’s suffers Christmas sales slowdown as Black Friday hurts the supermarket January 9, 2019 Like-for-like sales at Sainsbury’s fell by 1.1 per cent over the Christmas period, the supermarket said today. Total sales excluding fuel dropped by 0.4 per cent in the 15 weeks to 5 January, while general merchandise sales fell by 2.3 per cent and clothing by 0.2 per cent. Read more: Aldi sales hit £1bn in record Christmas [...]