Brand Architekts: Sales at owner of Skinny Tan and Super Facialist slump Retail Brand Architekts, the beauty specialist behind British brands including Skinny Tan and Super Facialist, has reported a fall in sales as it pivots to fewer, bigger brands. The company reported an underlying loss of £0.4m compared to a loss of £1.2m for 2023, while its gross profit margin increased 1.5 per cent to 41.2 per [...]
Leon: Restaurant chain’s loss-making streak continues amid Asda takeover hospitality Restaurant chain Leon lost almost £20m in the year it was sold by the billionaire Issa brothers to Asda, it has been revealed. The company had been purchased by the brothers’ Lancashire-based EG Group in 2021 before most of the group’s UK operations were sold to the supermarket giant for £2bn in October 2023. At [...]
Lower costs help Co-op return to profit Retail The Co-op said this morning that lower costs had helped the company return to profit in the first half of its financial year. Profit before tax grew to £58m in the first half of 2024 from a loss of £33m in the same period last year. The company, which also operates a funeral service, legal services, [...]
Asda workers ‘owed over £2bn in back pay’ as 159 MPs write to bosses September 24, 2024 Retail workers at supermarket giant Asda are owed more than £2bn in back pay, according to the GMB Union. The claim comes as 159 MPs wrote to bosses at the Leeds-headquartered company calling for an end to “pay discrimination” of its supermarket workers. The politicians have also called on TDR Capital, which is about to [...]
Mohsin Issa to step away from Asda as search for CEO continues September 18, 2024 Supermarket giant Asda has announced that Mohsin Issa will step away from his executive leadership role to focus on his position as sole chief executive of petrol forecourts business, EG Group. Lord Stuart Rose will assume Mohsin’s responsibilities alongside TDR Capital partner Rob Hattrell, the Leeds-headquartered grocer said, while Mohsin Issa will remain a co-owner [...]
Asda: Huge equal pay court case starts amid demonstrations September 9, 2024 A court case over equal pay involving more than 60,000 Asda workers has started amid demonstrations being staged in Brighton and Manchester. The GMB union, which has said the case is the biggest ever in the private sector, is arguing that the predominantly female retail workforce is paid up to £3.74 an hour less than [...]
Cat-shaped confectionery brand Candy Kittens’ taste of sweet success September 3, 2024 Ambition A.M. speaks to entrepreneur Jamie Laing, who started confectionery brand Candy Kittens with co-founder Ed Williams in 2012.
Asda continues to lose market share while grocery inflation rises for first time since March 2023 August 13, 2024 Asda and the Co-op have continued to lose market share while a rise in grocery inflation has led to overall sales increasing significantly for Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Lidl. Take-home sales at the grocers rose by 3.8 per cent in the four weeks to August 4, 2024, compared with the same period a year ago, according [...]
Who is Asda’s chair and why does he want Mohsin Issa to step away? August 12, 2024 Depending on your age and your attention span towards the in and outs of the UK retail scene, you may or may not have heard of Lord Stuart Rose. Knighted in 2008 for his services to the retail industry, he has spent twenty years running some of the biggest names in UK retail: Argos, Marks [...]
Inside Asda’s turnaround plan to win back customers from supermarket rivals August 9, 2024 It’s a difficult time to be at Asda’s helm – with sales down as well as competitors eating into its market share, the supermarket giant has announced an ambitious three-point turnaround plan to stave off further declines. Without a permanent CEO – the position has been empty since 2021 and filled on an interim basis [...]