The Co-op news and analysis – Page 92
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News
Somerfield should ‘walk away’ from bid
Somerfield shareholders have urged the supermarket group to ‘walk away’ from any bids instead of accepting a cheap offer.Mark Webster from State Street Global Advisors, which owns a 3% stake in Somerfield, said: “It looks unlikely that the...
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Custard boosts profit
Booming sales of custard helped boost dairy co-op Milk Link’s operating profits by 73% to £18.5m in the year to April 2.The company said custard production volumes rose 70% and were up 100% at Christmas. Milk Link produces custard in a joint...
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Introducing a unified brand
The Co-operative Group has registered a logo with the UK Patent Office that is believed to be the co-operative movement’s new brand identity, The Grocer can reveal.‘The Co-operative’ logo was recently registered on the trademark database for...
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Co-op offloads 100 stores
The Co-operative Group is to off-load 100 poorly performing stores as it tidies up its portfolio.Most of the stores being sold are from the former Alldays and Balfour chains, which the co-op bought in October 2002 and July 2003...
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Farmers picket co-op factory
Angry milk producers this week blockaded a farmer-owned dairy factory for the first time, closing it down for several hours at a reported cost of £10,000/hour.Previous pickets have targeted only factories owned by the plc dairy...
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Innovation in turkey hailed
The big four retailers plus Somerfield and the Co-op have been shortlisted in the Retailer of the Year category in this year’s British Turkey Awards.A record 145 entries were received for the 10 categories in the awards scheme, which this year...
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Tesco rivals in double trouble
On August 1 Tesco plans to open its newly refurbished and extended 101,000 sq ft Extra store in Slough.In August 2003, the retailer made headlines by buying a 50,000 sq ft Co-op shop down the road from this store. The OFT took an interest in...
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CSR key for Co-op
The Co-operative Group is to review its Corporate Social Responsibility programme over the next six months with a view to strengthening the established values of the Co-op brand.Martin Beaumont,chief executive, said this week that CSR was...
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Co-op bans MSG and food colourings
The Co-operative Group has banned monosodium glutamate and certain food colourings from its own label products as part of its Shopping With Attitude campaign.The ban covers 12 new colourings, which takes the co-op’s list of banned colourings in...
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Research Notes
>>household spend is upThe UK butter and spreads market is showing 3.9% growth. The average household is now spending £1.30 more than the previous year. The multiple grocers are driving this increase with Somerfield, Tesco and...
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Convenience: the new battleground
Despite the multiples’ entry into convenience, there is still plenty of scope for growth for other retailers – if suppliers adapt their products and packaging, delegates at the conference heard.Somerfield head of formats Doug Hall identified...
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Two senior assistants to drive Scotmid
Scotmid’s chief executive John Brodie has made two new senior appointments to help him take the Scottish co-op society forward.Colin McLean, former MD of Boots Services, signed on the dotted line this week to become Scotmid’s head of trading....
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Somerfield offer angers brewers
Brewers are outraged at Somerfield’s latest beer price promotion, believed to be the lowest ever recorded in retail.The deal involved Interbrew, Coors and Carlsberg brands and offered any two packs of 20 cans of 440ml Carling, 20 bottles of...
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Mace empire is carved up
Spar and Palmer & Harvey McLane appear to have ended up splitting what was left of Somerfield’s beleaguered Mace empire pretty much evenly between them.Delivered wholesale operator P&H – which grabbed the rights to the Mace fascia in...
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Not so good, but better
Somerfield has struggled to reverse its fortunes, but is it seen as a prize worth winning, ask Rachel Barnes & Fiona McLellandUnited Co-operatives’ surprise decision to pull out of the race for Somerfield – just seven weeks after...
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Recovery on track
Somerfield is entering the next phase of a redevelopment programme that aims to create one umbrella for the retail group’s IT and supply chains.The process has been a key element of Somerfield’s five-year recovery programme that began in May...
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News
Croft joins Cadbury
David Croft, former head of Co-op brands and technical at The Co-operative Group, has joined Cadbury Schweppes in the newly created role of ethical sourcing director.Croft joined the society in 1991 to develop food safety, quality and...