Tag: Asda

Walmart sells its Europe outpost Asda to Issa billionaire brothers for US$7.97bn

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EUROPE – Walmart has sold its last major outpost in Europe, Asda, to two billionaire brothers from Blackburn and the private equity firm TDR Capital in a deal that values the supermarket chain at £6.8 billion (US$7.97bn). Asda confirmed the sale of majority stake in Asda to Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who made their fortunes building the EG Group petrol station empire, and TDR. Walmart said that, under the new owners, Asda will invest £1 billion (US$2.5 billion) in the supermarket over the next three years. This means that the…

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UK competition body stops Sainsbury’s-Asda proposed merger deal

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UK – The UK competition watchdog, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked the proposed merger between retail chains Sainsbury’s and Asda amid extensive competition concerns. The competition authority cited concerns around possible price monopolies, likely to increase the cost of goods in British retail stores as well as online. In its report, CMA noted that the merger between UK’s largest supermarkets would probably affect the quality of service as well as reduction in the range of products available for customers. Decision to block the merger was also attributed to…

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Asda listed as Britain’s worst big four supermarkets in treatment of suppliers

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UK – Asda, a British supermarket retailer, has been listed as the worst of Britain’s big four supermarket groups in its treatment of suppliers, according to the UK grocery regulator’s annual sector survey. According to Reuters, almost 8% of Asda’s suppliers said the British arm of Walmart “rarely” or “never complied” with the Grocery Supply Code of Practice, the 2018 survey carried out by YouGov for the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) found. Though that was an improvement on last year’s 11%, it still made Asda the laggard of Britain’s big…

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Walmart’s revenue beat forecasts reaping big on online sales

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USA – The American retail giant, Walmart’s revenue rose almost 2% higher than the forecasts to US$122.69 billion boosted by US online sales which grew 33% in the quarterly results. Earnings were up to US$1.14 cents per share as opposed to US$1.12 per share forecast by Thomson Reuters. Walmart e-commerce push reaped well on high U.S. same-store sales which increased 2.1% attributed to its investment in the online grocery deliveries and website design, which all paid off. In the previous quarter, the retailer saw a slowdown on online order even…

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Sainsbury’s tables US$10 billion bid for Walmart’s Asda in an international advance

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UK – Sainsbury’s, the second largest chain of supermarkets in the UK has made what is considered as one of the biggest international move in the combative retail sector to merge with Walmart’s Asda for US$10 billion. Sainsbury’s is beefing up competition against Tesco, UK’s leading retailer in grocery and general merchandise for the lucrative market share that has attracted the likes of American Amazon who have revamped the ecommerce chain with several acquisitions. Bloomberg reported that the acquisition, which awaits regulatory approval, would be one of the Britain’s biggest…

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Asda eliminates single-use plastic bags with a new recycling strategy

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UK – Asda, the British retailer has announced its plan towards making 100% of its own-brand plastic packaging recyclable by phasing out ‘5p’ plastic bags from their products by 2025. According to the company, the strategy also involves introduction of reusable coffee cups, a replacement of the daily takeaway coffee cups which form part of tonnes of waste in bins or landfill. Asda was also to venture into developing alternatives for plastic straws such as paper straws to address the rising concern of the plastic menace disposed in the rivers…

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