Tesco launches supermarket price war

Link to the article: Channel 4 News

Tesco wages a major price offensive on rival supermarkets, aggressively cutting as much as 20 per cent from the cost of everyday items.

The UK's biggest supermarket chain has announced plans to cut the price of 3,000 essential items in a bid to halt the gradual slide of its share price.

Tesco says the move, which will cost the company £500m, is in response to the demands of its cash-strapped consumers. The group has suffered in recent years as Britons have cut back on groceries and switched to discounters such as Aldi and Lidl.

Families have seen the biggest fall in living standards in 30 years in the last financial year, and according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) household budgets could be squeezed for another 10 years.

Tesco, where one in every ten pounds in Britain is spent, said it will reduce the number of multi-buy promotions and scrap its double Clubcard points offer in order to cover the cost of the price drop.

Buffett and Kraft's Cadbury plans

Link to the article: Reuters Video

Jan. 7 - Kraft's hopes of taking over UK confectioner Cadbury have been boosted by a change in the fortunes of both companies - partly due to one of the richest men in the world.

Sonia Legg, Reuters

Inside a British watch-making firm

Link to the article: BBC Working Lunch

Accurist is a classic British brand that has been making watches, under the stewardship of the Loftus family, since 1946.

Working Lunch presenter Naga Munchetty met the current boss, Andrew Loftus, to find out what keeps the business ticking.

'Strong sales' boost Sainsbury's

Link to the article: BBC News

Sainsbury's has seen its latest half-year profits rise by one-third, buoyed by an increase in sales.

The supermarket group's pre-tax profit in the six months to 3 October totalled £342m, up 32.6% from £258m a year ago.

Its like-for-like sales excluding fuel, which strips out the impact of new store openings, rose 5.7%.

It said it was a strong performance given the economic climate, but trading conditions could be even tougher in the second half of the financial year.

Starbucks' latest jolt

Sept. 30 - Starbucks brews new strategies tailored to the recession and rising competition.

Bobbi Rebell, Reuters, New York.

SOUNDBITE:
# RJ Hottovi, equity analyst, Morningstar,

Jimmy Choo for H and M

Sep 30 - British luxury brand Jimmy Choo is teaming up with high street retailer H&M creating a capsule collection which will be sold in around 200 stores around the world.

Basmah Fahim reports.

Discount supermarket growth slows

Link to the article at Channel 4 News

Source PA News

Discount supermarkets are giving back the strong gains made last year when hard-pressed shoppers hunted for savings, according to new figures.

Mainstream rivals have fought back against stores such as Aldi and Lidl as food price inflation also eased, according to TNS Worldpanel.

Aldi's till takings were 8% ahead of a year earlier in the 12 weeks to September 6 - but this is well below the 26% year-on-year growth seen late last year. Rival Lidl saw 5.2% growth in line with the market.

TNS Worldpanel director Ed Garner said the figures "increasingly confirm the impression that 'recession panic' is ebbing away as far as the grocery market is concerned".

"Food remains a manageable proportion of most household budgets by historical standards and, it could be argued, the grocery sector suffered from an over-reaction at the end of 2008," Mr Garner said.

The figures came as official data showed annual food price inflation at 1.9% - its lowest level in more than three years - after a better than expected European harvest helped bring wheat prices down.

Waitrose enjoyed its strongest growth since August 2006, with till takings 11.2% ahead of last year and its market share up from 3.7%, although the group received some help from its acquisition of 13 Somerfield stores.

Meanwhile, market leader Tesco continued to lose ground to its UK rivals, with its share slipping from 31.1% to 30.9% and growth at 4.6% - below the level of the wider market.

Morrisons was the strongest performer among Tesco's main rivals. The firm's share jumped from 10.8% to 11.3% after 9.3% growth over a year earlier.

Incredible bulk: Disney buys Marvel

Link to the article: Channel 4 News

By More4 News

As of today, Mickey Mouse and Captain America, as well as Hannah Montana and Spiderman, are all colleagues.

Disney has taken over another vast company selling lurid childhood fantasy to the world, Marvel.

Fairtrade chocolate is just 'Divine'

Apr. 25 - British chocolate company 'Divine' leads as catalyst for change in chocolate market.

Divine has pioneered the market for Fair Trade chocolate for more than a decade and aims to change the way the chocolate industry works forever.