Asda's CEO Andy Bond, in an interview with Sky news said he was looking to expand the company but refused to be drawn on the subject of Woolworths. Mr Bond said: "I obviously wouldn't comment on particular speculation about Woolworths but in terms of general growth, we do still have some success at opening new food stores and it's worthwhile understanding that most of our stores are actually built on brown-field sites." He added: "There are always opportunities to build new stores and we do that wherever we can." It is thought at least 10 potential bidders are eying Woolworths after the store went into administration last week.
Tesco has suffered its weakest sales growth since the mid-1990s after targeting cash-stretched customers with cheaper brands. Britain's biggest supermarket chain reported this morning that like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, rose by 2% in the last three months – just half the growth achieved in the previous quarter. A Tesco spokesman said the sales figure was the lowest since 1994, and that it was due to the popularity of its new cut-price Discounter range, launched to lure customers from Asda, Lidl and Aldi.
Carrefour, the hypermarket group which is in the process of changing chief executive, has announced that it would pilot new convenience stores in small towns and villages. The retailer plans a trial of small stores called Carrefour Contact and is considering a similar chain in cities, called Carrefour City. The group, whose hypermarkets have lost share to supermarkets as people opt for convenience stores and cheaper products from hard discounters, issued a profits warning in June. It announced last month it was to part company with José Luis Duran, chief executive. His replacement, Lars Olofsson, a veteran Nestlé marketing executive, is to take over on January 1. Carrefour already operates, mostly under franchise, convenience stores under the brands Shopi, 8 a Huit and Proxi. If the trials under the Carrefour brand prove successful, Carrefour will aim to rebrand the stores. In June, the group launched a rebrand of its 1,021 Champion stores to the Carrefour brand under the name Carrefour Market.
Supermarkets Sainsbury's and Morrisons have both put alternative supply arrangements in place in order to continue book supply after EUK was put into administration last week. Book supply from the distributor is still on hold to retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Zavvi, Morrison's and Woolworths.
Morrisons, which updates on Thursday, said its value ranges had helped attract half a million more customers every week. The firm, which relaunched cheaper lines and slashed prices on several everyday items to 50p, saw like-for-like sales excluding fuel rise 7.6% in the 26 weeks to August 3.
Tesco will reveal its worst sales performance since the early 1990s recession this week as concern mounts that more high-street retailers are facing financial collapse. On Tuesday, Tesco will report third-quarter like-for-like sales growth of just 1.9%, its worst financial performance since 1992. Its trading update will concern investors in the UK's biggest retailer, whose shares have fallen sharply in recent months. More on this story
