All Daily Bread articles – Page 125
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Comment and Opinion
Family misfortunes
Snow returned to Grocer Towers today, albeit briefly – but the chill that ran down many a back earlier this week had nothing to do with the mercury falling. GDP shrank by 0.5% in the previous quarter, we learned on Tuesday, confounding predictions – or maybe they were just hopes ...
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Comment and Opinion
Moment of clarity
North of the border devotees of Robert Burns were last night raising a glass of something medicinal to toast the great poet and help wash down the traditional feast of sheep’s stomach and mashed turnip. Maybe some subversive types even sparked a cigar.
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Comment and Opinion
Shake your moneymaker
They say money talks and bullsh—er, other stuff walks. We saw on Friday evening how cash is king, when Ranjit Boparan drove a coach and horses through the proposed Essenta tie-up. Specifically, a coach filled with money (reportedly lent to him by the good folk at Goldman Sachs).
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Comment and Opinion
Above the argy-bargy
Sometimes it’s better to rise above it. The unseemly spat over pricing between some of the UK’s largest supermarkets rolled on this week, with Tesco unveiling new press ads having a pop at Asda’s 10% price guarantee.
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Comment and Opinion
The battle for Northern's soul
The time has nearly run out for Ranjit Boparan to put up or shut up and clarify whether he intends to table a bid for Northern Foods.
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Comment and Opinion
When good men do nothing
They say evil prospers when good men do nothing. And by doing very little today, the coalition has managed to upset almost everybody. Retailers in England and Wales are to be banned from selling booze below the cost of duty plus VAT.
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Comment and Opinion
Unhappy Mondays
Today is Blue Monday. That’s the most depressing day of the year, if you believe ‘research’ paid for by online travel agents that want you to book some winter sun. Perhaps that explains the tetchiness in the weekend’s exchanges between Tesco and Asda over the latter’s 10% pledge.
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Comment and Opinion
Ice, lemons and hot pork bellies
Last weekend in the FA Cup there was the usual talk about bog-like lower-league pitches being “a great leveller”. Top clubs don’t fancy having lumps kicked out of them on swampy pitches, so there’s more chance of a giantkilling.
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Comment and Opinion
Justin's cracking Christmas
No wonder Justin King was looking so pleased with life at today’s 90-minute briefing in Holborn, attended by The Grocer’s newshounds.
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Comment and Opinion
Bright Youngs things
Hyperbole is without a doubt the worst crime any retail chief can commit. Well, perhaps that’s an exaggeration. Dalton Philips avoided too many verbal fireworks when he said Morrisons was “a nose ahead of the market” after reporting a solid, if unspectacular, 1% rise in like-for-likes for the Christmas period.
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Comment and Opinion
Sisters, suitors and underwhelming surprises
So Ranjit Boparan has until 21 January to get a bid together for Northern Foods. It seems a long shot, with some observers questioning whether the 2 Sisters owner can raise the kind of cash that would tempt Northern’s shareholders to turn their backs on the Essenta deal’s promised upside.
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Comment and Opinion
New year, same problems
Welcome back to those of you that, like the worker bees of Grocer Towers, returned from the festive break today.
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Comment and Opinion
Next Year's News: the Daily Bread guide to 2011
Daily Bread brings you the biggest stories of the year to come - before they happen
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Comment and Opinion
Smoke and mirrors
One finding in particular from The Grocer’s Top Products Survey 2010 will have given Andrew Lansley food for thought. Or rather, something to put in his pipe and smoke, as they say.
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Comment and Opinion
Tilting at Mills
They say that a good big’un beats a good little’un. But while scale has its advantages, stealth isn’t usually one of them.
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Comment and Opinion
Curiosity killed the Kat
Today Diageo claimed a decisive victory in its long-running dispute with InterContinental Brands over the Vodkat brand name.
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Comment and Opinion
VAT's life
The British Retail Consortium today said it was “nonsense” to suggest retailers would use the VAT rise in January as a cover for price increases.
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Comment and Opinion
Muscling in
Just a couple of months ago Malcolm Walker was making optimistic noises about retaking control of Iceland, the chain he set up, then left, and has since restored to significant growth.
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Comment and Opinion
Will Diageo swallow Yankee spirit?
Chances to stock up on Christmas booze may have been thwarted by the weather, but one company with a new opportunity to bolster its drinks cabinet is Diageo.
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Comment and Opinion
The snow must go on
Whether you're marooned at home or smugly sitting at your desk wondering what all the fuss is about, it won’t have escaped your notice that there’s a bit of snow around. Or rather, a lot.