In the current depressed financial climate, The Grocer's basket of shares has taken an upward turn - we've made a whole £4m this month.
Despite most of our companies recording a loss, gains by Somerfield, Associated British Foods, Dairy Crest, and particularly Unilever have made a difference.
Somerfield is the only retailer to have done well in August compared with the other multiples  which is partly to do with the comfort investors feel because of its level of asset backing.
Shares rallied after an upbeat first quarter trading statement from Somerfield on Thursday revealing sharp like-for-like gains in the eight weeks to August 17.However, group like-for-likes in the quarter were still negative.
Safeway in particular hasn't done too well, showing an almost 12% dip in share price.
Our manufacturers on the other hand, are looking much healthier. The FTSE has fallen in value by less than 1%, which means most of them are either performing as well or outperforming the market, with Dairy Crest and Unilever putting on 5.9% and 10.3% of value respectively.
It's been a really quiet month overall, but the sale of Hershey has created a degree of uncertainty around Cadbury Schweppes which is rumoured to be interested in buying part of the company.
Unilever enters its closed period on September 23 and Williams de Broë ¡nalyst David Hallam said the company should have upped the level of new product introductions, backed up by higher ad spend.
He said poor summer weather affecting sales of ice cream and soft drinks may not have helped either company in the short term.
Whether a poor summer has affected Safeway's share price is debatable.
Teather & Greenwood analyst Dave Stoddart said the fact it had dropped so far was "a little surprising".
Tesco had also fallen against the market but Stoddart said its performance was best judged against European competitors.
Morrisons meanwhile had the capacity to grow faster than the rest.
Both will come under scrutiny later this month as Tesco announces its interims on September 17 and Morrisons follows suit two days later.
Tesco is set to be on target while Morrisons should outperform the market.
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Despite most of our companies recording a loss, gains by Somerfield, Associated British Foods, Dairy Crest, and particularly Unilever have made a difference.
Somerfield is the only retailer to have done well in August compared with the other multiples  which is partly to do with the comfort investors feel because of its level of asset backing.
Shares rallied after an upbeat first quarter trading statement from Somerfield on Thursday revealing sharp like-for-like gains in the eight weeks to August 17.However, group like-for-likes in the quarter were still negative.
Safeway in particular hasn't done too well, showing an almost 12% dip in share price.
Our manufacturers on the other hand, are looking much healthier. The FTSE has fallen in value by less than 1%, which means most of them are either performing as well or outperforming the market, with Dairy Crest and Unilever putting on 5.9% and 10.3% of value respectively.
It's been a really quiet month overall, but the sale of Hershey has created a degree of uncertainty around Cadbury Schweppes which is rumoured to be interested in buying part of the company.
Unilever enters its closed period on September 23 and Williams de Broë ¡nalyst David Hallam said the company should have upped the level of new product introductions, backed up by higher ad spend.
He said poor summer weather affecting sales of ice cream and soft drinks may not have helped either company in the short term.
Whether a poor summer has affected Safeway's share price is debatable.
Teather & Greenwood analyst Dave Stoddart said the fact it had dropped so far was "a little surprising".
Tesco had also fallen against the market but Stoddart said its performance was best judged against European competitors.
Morrisons meanwhile had the capacity to grow faster than the rest.
Both will come under scrutiny later this month as Tesco announces its interims on September 17 and Morrisons follows suit two days later.
Tesco is set to be on target while Morrisons should outperform the market.
{{INSIGHT }}
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