NEWS ShopTalk S
ainsbury’s has emerged as the lead bidder to buy the convenience store brand Nisa for £130m, having entered into exclusive talks over a potential deal. The UK’s second largest supermarket must convince more than half of Nisa’s member owners to agree terms.
Nisa is owned by its 1,400 members. They operate as franchisees and own shares in the wider group.
Sainsbury’s is thought to be offering £2,500 per share to buy the group. The Times said this is “likely to result in the effective demutualisation of Nisa”.
Interest in the firm was triggered by the purchase of Booker by Tesco. For Sainsbury’s, the deal would expand its mall stores format and offset the growth of Tesco in this sector.
transactions saw like-for-like growth of 1.3%, representing around £10m more customers than the previous year.
International sales dipped 3%, while online grocery sales saw a 4.8% boost amid plans to introduce automated robotic deliveries. Tesco’s chief executive, Dave Lewis, commented: “In tough market conditions, we have stayed true to our commitment to helping customers, working closely with our supplier partners to keep prices low. “Customers have responded by doing more of their shopping with us and we continue to grow volumes, particularly in fresh food.” Earlier this year in May, the retailer announced a partnership with Dixons Carphone, through which it is beginning to trial store-in-store operations across its estate.
Waitrose reported a 17% fall in its annual profits as it warned of “exceptionally tough” conditions in the grocery sector.
Tesco’s first quarter report has resulted in its sixth consecutive quarter of growth.
In the 13 weeks leading up to 27 May, group like-for-like sales were up 1%, while UK and ROI like-for- likes increased by 2.2%.
Total sales rose 0.8% at constant exchange rates, but saw a positive boost from the foreign exchange effect with a 3.6% rise at actual exchange rates. UK fresh food sales volumes were up by 1.6%, driving UK like-for-like food sales growth to 2.7%. Meanwhile, customer
6 August 2017
Pre-tax profits for the year to end of January fell to £66.6m, while sales dropped from £6bn to £5.9bn. Waitrose has highlighted pension costs which meant that the grocer’s annual bonus pot was cut from £87m to £80m.
Supermarkets have been engaged in a price war as a consequence of the growth of German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, in the UK.
Until recently, Waitrose had been viewed as largely immune to the effects of the rise of the discounters. However, Waitrose faced difficult trading over the Christmas period when it posted a 1.4% fall in like- for-like sales, excluding fuel, over
the six weeks to 02 January. Over the year, like-for-like sales were down 1.3%.
In April, Waitrose boss Mark Price stepped down from the supermarket, with retail director Rob Collins replacing him.
Mr Collins is continuing the firm’s strategy of offering shoppers additional reasons to frequent its supermarkets, opening wine and juice bars, cafes and specialist bakeries.
Morrisons has achieved the strongest sales performance of the UK’s big four grocers, according to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel.
Grocery market share figures have revealed a marked turnaround for the sector. Supermarket sales growth accelerated to 5.0%, the strongest increase since March 2012 and a stark contrast to the 0.2% decline seen last year.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The market’s robust performance this period is partly down to weak sales growth last year and a continuing increase in like-for-like grocery inflation, which is now running at 3.2%.”
Morrisons achieved the strongest sales of the big four grocers. The retailer increased sales by 3.7%, posting growth for the seventh consecutive period despite market share slipping back to 10.6%.
Ocado’s profit fell in the first half of 2017, but the retailer said it will continue increase its share of the competitive UK market as consumers shift to online shopping. The online supermarket and delivery company said profit before tax fell 9.4% to £7.7m in its half- year results to 28 May.
Order volumes grew by 15.6%, but the average Ocado basket size value declined by 1.4% to £108.45. The number of active customers using the service jumped 12.7% to over 600,000.
In June, Ocado announced its first international partnership with a European retailer, which is yet to be named, to use its software Ocado Smart Platform (OSP). The deal came after Ocado began a similar partnership with Morrisons. Ocado said this deal would be the “first of many” as the market shifts towards online grocery shopping. Chief executive Tim Steiner said the company is focused on investing in innovative technologies, and Ocado has revealed that it has been trialling self-driving delivery cars. Ocado’s shares benefited after Amazon’s £13.7bn bid for US grocer Whole Foods as investors speculate over the future of the sector. John Ibbotson, director at Retail Vision, said: “Ocado needs a retail giant to buy up its tech or take it over.”
www.acr-news.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
