Bye-bye BOGOF? Tesco finally winds down promotions in favour of simpler pricing strategy February 2, 2016 Tesco is winding down its focus on promotions such as the famous BOGOF – buy one get one free offers – instead offering customers clearer prices in the long term. It's the latest supermarket to follow in the footsteps of discounters Aldi and Lidl with low prices overall rather than deals which have been criticised as [...]
SABMiller and AB Inbev’s megabrew deal “won’t give European beer market a hangover” February 2, 2016 Don’t worry, there won’t be a hangover for European markets from AB InBev’s £71bn takeover of SABMiller. At least according to a new report from Moody’s, giving the megabrew deal its blessing by announcing that the merger is “unlikely to alter the competitive landscape of the European beer market over the next 12-24 months”. Moody’s [...]
Ocado share price jumps as it makes its second-ever profit – and says it is “confident” of signing a big deal February 2, 2016 Ocado has reported its second-ever pre-tax profit, which jumped 65 per cent in the year to the end of November. And the company was dropped a couple of hints which could relate to those rumours of a tie-up with a certain giant ecommerce site… The figures In a statement today, Ocado said gross retail sales rose to £1.1bn in 2015, up 14.7 per [...]
BP’s share price falls to six-year low as energy giant reveals worse-than-expected $2.2bn fourth quarter loss on back of falling oil prices February 2, 2016 BP's share price has fallen to its lowest level in nearly six years after posting worse-than-expected results this morning. Shares in the oil giant, whose replacement cost losses increased by 130 per cent, were down 9.5 per cent in mid-afternoon trading to 330 per share – the lowest in nearly six years, though still well [...]
TalkTalk share price jumps as revenues rise – but cyber attack cost it £60m February 2, 2016 Shareholders seemed impressed with TalkTalk's recovery from the cyber attack that devastated it in October – it's even retained its dividend. But the hack still cost it as much as £60m. The figures In a statement this morning, the company said revenues rose 1.8 per cent in the third quarter, with on-net revenues growing 4.5 per cent. But the company [...]
Sainsbury’s share price rises as it paves the way for Argos takeover with £1.3bn bid for Home Retail Group – and HRG board is backing the deal February 2, 2016 Sainsbury's has made an 11th hour offer for Home Retail Group, upping its bid to a total of £1.3bn. Under the terms of the deal, Home Retail Group investors will received 0.321 Sainsbury's shares and 55p in cash per share. They will also receive around 25p per share and a further 2.8p instead of the dividend due to [...]
National Australia Bank prices Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks shares near bottom of range – but puts off IPO by a day February 2, 2016 National Australia Bank (NAB) has said shares in its Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank chains (CYBG to their friends) will trade at 180p – but added that the much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) will take place tomorrow. The new bank had been expected to begin trading on the London Stock Exchange today. But NAB said a request from one of the ratings [...]
Sainsbury’s set for £1.3bn Argos deal: Supermarket and Home Retail Group could announce agreement today February 1, 2016 Sainsbury's is close to clinching a £1.3bn deal to buy Home Retail Group after improving its offer ahead of today’s deadline. The supermarket chain made an initial bid of around £1bn for the Argos owner in November, saying a combination of the two businesses would create a retail empire to rival John Lewis and Amazon. [...]
Google share price soars in after hours trading as parent company Alphabet’s revenue rises February 1, 2016 Google jumped as much as 8.4 per cent to $813 per share in after hours trading, putting it on course to oust Apple as the world's most valuable company by market capitalisation when regular trading resumes tomorrow. Google's new parent company Alphabet reported annual revenue rose 18 per cent to $21.33bn (£14.8bn) in the three months ended December 31. [...]
S&P cuts Shell’s rating and warns on other oil companies BP, Eni, Repsol, Statoil and Total February 1, 2016 Standard & Poor's (S&P) today cut Royal Dutch Shell's credit rating, while warning that there's a "significant likelihood" those of several other European oil firms could follow. "We lowered our ratings on Royal Dutch Shell PLC to 'A+/A-1' from 'AA-/A-1+' and placed the long-term rating on CreditWatch with negative implications," S&P said in a statement today. [...]
