The UK’s “damaged food supply chain” has proved the biggest casualty of supermarket price war, warns business recovery specialist Begbies Traynor, as it notes stability returning to the struggling UK grocery sector and their food and drink manufacturing...
Food and drink manufacturers must respond to a “huge cultural shift” in consumer behaviour towards own-label products, according to grocery think tank IGD ceo Joanne Denney-Finch.
The big four supermarkets have “undoubtedly” dug their own grave and contributed to the “crisis” in the retail industry, according to Clive Black of Shore Capital.
Tesco has posted a 55% slump in first-half underlying profit to £354M from £779M last year, the day after its boss Dave Lewis pledged to standardise payments to its suppliers.
The latest results from Morrisons, revealing a nearly 50% drop to £126M in first-half profits before tax, show that there is “no quick fix” for the troubled retailer, according to leading analysts.
Manufacturers should prime themselves to take advantage of the supermarkets’ abolition of ‘guilt lanes’ by making healthy alternatives to chocolates and sweets to stock at checkouts, like the online snack manufacturer Graze has done, its boss has said.
Morrisons could face a multi-million pound bill if the retailer tries to offload its M local convenience stores (c-stores), according to recent media reports.
Morrisons is close to agreeing the sale of its M-Local convenience stores to investment group Greybull Capital, according to press reports, as Shore Capital warned the supermarkets’ convenience business had “reached its zenith”.
Explosive growth in internet sales of food and drink is causing big problems for manufacturers and regulators when it comes to ensuring compliance with the European Food Information for Consumers (FIC) regulation, also known as FIR in the UK, a senior...
Morrisons boss David Potts has continued to rebuild the retailer’s senior management team, after the exit of more than half the previous board, with the appointment of former Tesco executive Gary Mills as group retail director.
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons must make more of what they do best with food and drink in their fight back against the discounters Aldi and Lidl, a leading analyst has claimed.
The UK’s online grocery market – valued at £9.57bn a year – is the globe’s second largest after China and is poised for further rapid growth, predicts the grocery think tank IGD.
Frozen food retailer Iceland’s sales were hit by a triple whammy of intense competition from Aldi and Lidl, food price deflation and “changing consumer habits” over the past year, it claimed.
Metcalfe’s Food Company aims to split in half, forming separate businesses for its Metcalfe’s Skinny popcorn and Asian food-to-go brand Itsu Grocery to enable greater focus on each.
Small food and drink businesses should shun the big four supermarkets and consider other routes to market that might be more suitable for their product, according to a number of firms.
Poundworld Retail’s store expansion drive will accelerate in the wake of its acquisition by private investment firm TPG, according to a statement by the new owner.
Food and drink start-ups must understand their market and competition and prove their product could disrupt it and bring benefits for retailer before approaching a buyer, according to Sainsbury.
The battle against campylobacter, Britain’s leading cause of food poisoning, has been compromised by the big four supermarkets’ price war against discount stores Aldi and Lidl, warns Bernard Matthews group technical director Jeremy Hall.
High street baker Greggs has posted own-shop like-for-like sales up by 5.9% in the first four months of the year, in “a strong” set of results, according to the analyst N+1 Singer.
Supermarkets’ ‘misleading pricing policies’ have been referred to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the form of ‘a super complaint’ by the consumer pressure group Which?
The empire strikes back: that’s the verdict of City analyst Shore Capital on supermarkets’ bid to repel the market share gaining hard discounters Aldi and Lidl. But concerns remain about Sainsbury.
Sainsbury will bolster its online retailing capabilities by creating 480 ‘specialist’ jobs in response to rising consumer demand for more convenient and intuitive ways to shop.
More high-end food and drink start-ups are taking advantage of a boom in sales of premium products in supermarkets and rising sales in posh retailers such as Waitrose.
Online retailer Ocado will continue to grow ahead of the online grocery market, predicted its boss Tim Steiner, as it posted group sales up by 19.2% for the 12 weeks to February 22.
Discounter Aldi and posh supermarket Waitrose have topped a new list of the UK’s top 20 fastest growing retailers, supplying further evidence of the increasing polarisation of the grocery market.
Thorntons took a £7.7M hit to UK commercial sales in the first half of its financial year after two major accounts significantly reduced orders, although international sales partially offset the damage.
The recovery among high street retailers and increased consumer demand for convenience shopping should prompt manufacturers to invest in and change their ranges and operations, an industry veteran has urged.
Organic food firms are seizing the opportunities offered by online retailers and caterers to drive growth, suppliers attending the launch of the Soil Association’s (SA’s) 2015 Organic Market Report heard.
Online retail will be the salvation of the big four supermarkets, which faced a battering in the run up to Christmas as a result of increased pressure from the discounters, experts have said.
Food and drink manufacturing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been mainly driven by intense competition in the UK retail sector, according to analysis from Grant Thornton.
A “catastrophic collapse” in retail profitability was one of five top food industry trends highlighted by Greencore ceo Patrick Coveney at Food Manufacture’s Business Leaders’ Forum on January 20.
Marks and Spencer’s “dismal” performance was lessened by strong food sales, but the posh retailer’s weak online business could be troublesome, city analysts have warned.
Tesco has unveiled another fall in like-for-like sales (LFL) and a major cost-cutting programme, including the closure of 43 stores, in financial results covering the 19 weeks to January 3.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) policy of naming and shaming supermarkets by ranking their fresh chicken according to its contamination with campylobacter was ill-conceived and counterproductive, Clive Black, head of research at City analyst Shore Capital,...
High-street baker Greggs predicted full-year profits will be ahead of analysts’ expectations, after posting own shop like-for-like (LFL) sales up by 5.2% for the 24 weeks to December 13.
The US shopping craze Black Friday is sweeping Britain today, with the police called to quell supermarkets disturbances as shoppers jostled for the best buys, while some retailers slashed food and drink prices.
