Tesco, Britain's number one food retailer, and J Sainsbury, the
third largest supermarket operator, have streamlined their milk
supply operations, reducing the number of suppliers from three to
two. The moves echo a similar streamlining...
UK supermarket chain Morrisons is set to sell five of its stores to
rival Asda for £40 million, but is reported to be looking into
closing down other stores that it acquired as a result of its
takeover of larger rival Safeway earlier...
Price cutting by the major UK retail chains has taken its toll on
Iceland's burgeoning recovery in the first quarter - and changes at
Safeway and J Sainsbury are likely to keep the pressure on prices
well into the second half.
Already obliged to sell off 52 stores as part of its acquisition of
the Safeway chain earlier this year, British retail group Morrisons
is now considering seeking a buyer for a further 120 stores,
effectively shelving its initial...
J Sainsbury, Britain's third largest supermarket group, has warned
that pre-tax profits are likely to be below forecasts this year as
the company slashed its margins to compete with lower-priced
rivals. The warning, coming at...
Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket group, continued to show why
it is the leader of the pack in the first quarter, posting an
impressive 12.3 per cent increase in sales for the 12-week period.
Britain's third largest supermarket group Sainsbury today confirmed
that it had slipped into the red in 2003 as it continued to feel
the impact of its three-year structural overhaul. The company had
already warned that margin...
British retailer Sainsbury has acquired 14 supermarkets from
compatriot Morrisons - including the original Morrisons store in
the Yorkshire town of Ripon. But the group still lags behind rival
Asda, which also announced expansion...
Britain's Co-op group has laid down a challenge to larger rivals
Tesco and Sainsbury, highlighting its "determination to
grow" in the convenience store sector after the successful
integration of two recent acquisitions,...
Sainsbury's poor performance over the last year has led to renewed
speculation that the number three UK supermarket group could be a
target for takeover, with US buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravis
Roberts named this week as the...
Struggling British food retailer Sainsbury's has given itself a
£225 million shot in the arm with the sale of its US unit Shaw's to
the Albertsons chain. Despite good performances from Shaw's in
recent years - better,...
Somerfield, itself a takeover target last year, is the latest UK
supermarket retailer to move into the convenience store sector, a
movement led by larger rivals Tesco and Sainsbury. Evidence that
the UK's biggest High Street...
Waitrose is not the cheapest food retailer in the UK, nor does it
offer the largest range of services. But it does claim to have the
best quality and service levels in the industry - a focus on the
premium end of the market which...
Morrisons' takeover of Safeway came a step nearer to completion
yesterday with the announcement that the High Court in London had
rubber stamped the scheme of arrangement between the two companies.
Somerfield, the UK supermarket group, has launched a new loyalty
card scheme under the Saver name, offering customers a range of
promotions and money-off coupons tailored to their shopping
patterns.
Supermarkets have invested a great deal of time and money in
improving the quality of service that they offer to their customers
in recent years, and this has become as much a way of
differentiating between fascias as the products...
It is now two years since the publication of the so-called Curry
Report on the future of the British farm and food industry, but
many of the recommendations in the report - notably those
concerning the power of the major supermarket...
Sainsbury, the perennial underachiever in the UK retail sector, has
again reported a mixed set of quarterly results, with the Christmas
period boosting revenues towards the end of the third quarter and
offsetting another poor performance...
An Every Day Low Pricing (EDLP) strategy is more popular with
shoppers than one driven purely by promotions, according to a
recent survey in the UK. But a combination of the two is the best
means of keeping shoppers happy.
Just when the dust appeared to have settled on the Safeway takeover
affair, leaving Morrisons as apparently the sole bidder, a report
in the UK press today suggests that Asda has returned to the fray
with a bid designed to scotch...
Morrisons, the Bradford-based supermarket group, must make a bid
for the Safeway chain within 21 days after the UK government
yesterday accepted definitive undertakings from rival chains not to
bid for the company.
Britain's biggest supermarket group Tesco has today reported third
quarter sales growth of 17.5 per cent, figures which beat all
analysts' forecasts and showed once again the ever widening gulf
between Tesco and rivals such...
Sainsbury has appointed a former Marks & Spencer executive as
its new CEO, replacing Sir Peter Davis who will become chairman.
But Davis' ambitious attempt to pull the company out of the
doldrums continues to misfire, with...
Philip Green's Trackdean Investments group has today confirmed that
it will not bid for the Safeway chain, leaving the way clear for
Morrisons to complete its takeover. The government's ruling that
only 53 Safeway stores...
Safeway, the UK food retail chain, has put 53 stores up for sale in
advance of the expected takeover of the chain by Wm Morrison. As
well as Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda, all of which lost out in their
bids to buy Safeway, offers have...
Philip Green could still try and spoil the party for Morrisons in
its bid to acquire Safeway. The retail entrepreneur this week asked
for updated financial information about Safeway, perhaps an
indication that he will still make...
Sainsbury, the UK's number three food retailer, is falling further
behind rivals Tesco and Asda with a decline in like-for-like sales
during the second quarter of the year. The company also faces
increased competition from a...
Two of the supermarket groups which were blocked from bidding for
the Safeway chain in the UK are considering taking legal action
against the draconian ruling which prevents them from bidding for
more than just a handful of the company's...
Tesco is set to benefit as much from the Safeway takeover as
Morrisons, the company which is actually buying the chain, snapping
up a number of unwanted stores, according to analysts at Goldman
Sachs. But the likely price war caused...
Asda, the American-owned supermarket chain, is continuing with its
campaign to increase sales of British food and drink products, with
50 new UK-made items set to hit the shelves in 2003. Clearer
labelling and in-store promotions...
As expected, Morrisons is the only retailer allowed to bid for the
Safeway chain, with rival offers from Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda all
blocked by the UK government. But Morrisons' bid is unlikely to be
as high as it was in January,...
Morrisons' business model would have a major beneficial effect on
sales and profits at Safeway if the Yorkshire-based chain emerges
as the eventual winner in the battle to acquire the troubled
company. Like-for-like sales growth...
Morrisons, the chain most likely to be given the all clear to bid
for Safeway, is thought to be considering reducing its offer in the
light of a weakening performance from Safeway over the last few
months. But with Safeway's...
Tesco and Sainsbury could seriously damage their credit ratings if
they were to proceed with a debt-funded acquisition of Safeway,
ratings agency Standard & Poor's has warned. Tesco is already
overstretched after expanding...
A last minute move by one of the potentials in the Safeway bidding
race has led the UK competition body to delay its recommendations,
which were to be handed to the Government today.
Sainsbury has been investing heavily in revamping its business for
the last two years, but its latest quarterly results show that
there is still an immense task ahead of the UK's number two
supermarket group. So much so that...
The Competition Commission has another month to decide which
retailer will be allowed to bid for Safeway, but UK consumers, it
seems, have already made up their minds. A recent poll by Mintel
showed that the good value for money strategy...
Safeway, the UK food retailer, has maintained sales and profits
during a difficult first quarter dogged by uncertainty over the
future of the chain. A resilient performance by the embattled
chain.
Not content with criticising UK market leader Tesco at every turn,
Friends of the Earth is now gunning for world number one Wal-Mart,
accusing it of exploiting planning loopholes to extend floorspace
at 40 Asda stores. But Asda has...
The battle to buy up UK supermarket retailer Safeway is still very
much on, as the Competition Commission announces that its enquiries
are ongoing and that the final decision on the four main rival
bidders is still some way off.
Britain's number two grocery retailer J Sainsbury has reported
full-year figures which show that it is steadily gaining ground on
arch rival Tesco. Store expansion and cost cutting programmes
helped lift pre-tax profits by 16.8...
The latest full year results for Safeway - probably the last before
the company is bought out by one of its rivals - were solid if
hardly spectacular, as the uncertainty over the future ownership of
the group took its toll on store...
Four of the five potential bidders for UK supermarket chain Safeway
have this week been presenting their cases to the Competition
Commission. The heads of Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons all
took at turn at highlighting why their...
Britain's third largest food retailer Asda has pledged its support
for British farmers with the launch of a new campaign designed to
promote British food and educate consumers as to the source of what
they eat. But is it just...
The uncertainty over the future of the Safeway supermarket chain -
the focus of an intense bidding war by all its main UK rivals - has
taken its toll on results at the company, which is now cutting back
on its store refit programme.
The Supermarket Code of Practice, introduced a year ago to protect
suppliers from 'unfair practices' by the major UK supermarekt
groups, has had little or no effect, claims Friends of the Earth.
More than half of the UK's...
The six bidders for UK supermarket group Safeway have now become
five with the withdrawal yesterday of the US investment group KKR.
The remaining candidates, all of them retail specialists, now await
a decision from the regulators...
The Office of Fair Trading has begun an annual review of the Code
of Practice governing supermarket chains and their suppliers. But
with the balance of the UK retail market set to shift once again
following the Safeway deal, some...
Tesco, one of the leading bidders for Safeway, has claimed that its
proposal will be good for customers, local communities and
suppliers - claims which have been rubbished by environmental group
Friends of the Earth.
