Premier Foods was in the spotlight again this weekend ahead of its full-year results on Tuesday. The Sunday Telegraph writes that boss Gavin Darby will be hoping a return to profit and more details of a noodle partnership with Nissin will be enough to soothe shareholders’ fury over his handling of McCormick’s takeover attempt. Darby will face the City for the first time since spurning three takeover advances that valued the company at a 90% premium to its share price. The Sunday Times adds that “embattled boss” Darby will be forced to defend his handling of a £537m takeover approach by the American rival. This weekend US hedge fund giant Paulson, Premier’s second-biggest investor, demanded Darby lay out how he will push shares above 65p.
The Sunday Telegraph reports that Asda boss Andy Clarke is expected to come under more pressure this week when the Walmart-owned supermarket posts another heavy slump in sales while its big four rivals show signs of recovery. The Guardian had a similar story in Saturday focusing on the new partnership with celebrity chef James Martin. “The chain is hoping that the hunky Yorkshireman can do for Asda what Jamie Oliver’s cockney charm did for Sainsbury’s,” the paper says. Asda will report its first-quarter sales on Thursday, and recent industry data suggests the figures will be dire, the paper adds.
The Observer carries an interview with Tesco CEO Dave Lewis, in which he says the retailer’s brand was badly dented but vowing it will recover. “There is still more we have to do in rebuilding the brand, but we want to open people’s minds to the idea that Tesco can be a different sort of place,” Lewis says.
The big four supermarkets in Britain have pledged to save women hundreds of pounds on sanitary products over the course of their lifetimes following the government’s promise to scrap the so-called tampon tax, The Guardian reports.
Finally, BHS remains in the spotlight, with The Mail reporting that a saviour is to be chosen this week as probe into what went wrong will extend to advisors, including Goldman Sachs. The Sunday Times adds that Goldman Sachs has been ordered by a parliamentary inquiry to account for its role in Sir Philip Green’s disastrous £1 sale of BHS. Sister paper The Times follows up this morning adding, Anthony Gutman, the Goldman Sachs banker who informally helped Sir Philip Green on last March’s sale, will be questioned over his advice before it was offloaded to Retail Acquisitions. The Financial Times writes that a number of bidders battling for BHS have been told to improve their offers by Tuesday to stand a chance of buying the collapsed high street chain. Protesters in central London blocked traffic this weekend in a demonstration against Topshop and Sir Philip Green, the chairman of the Arcadia group which owns the store (The Guardian). After congregating outside the flagship store in Oxford Circus, between 150 and 200 protesters from a number of organisations stood in the road stopping buses and cars and chanting, “Topshop, shame on you”.
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