Lingfield College Business

Fantastic analysis of reasons why, impact and what might be needed to push it through: An Asda-Sainsbury's merger will have a mountain to climb - but don't bet against it - Daily Telegraph JON YEOMANS 28 APRIL 2018 • 4:56PM On the face of it,   news that Asda and Sainsbury's are looking to combine their businesses should be unthinkable . These are two of the UK's "big four" supermarkets and they have around 27pc market share combined, with about 2,000 stores in total. No one in their right mind would surely believe that such a merger could be possible. Yet the deal makes a lot of sense - especially if we assume it is Walmart, the US giant that owns Asda, effectively waving a white flag on the UK market, and deciding it would prefer to throw in its lot with another operator. Even casual observers of the grocery sector - and, since we all buy food, that means we're all observers to some extent - know that it has been going t...

Fashion giants fail to escape long shadow of Rana Plaza disaster - Daily Telegraph The Rana Plaza collapse was the deadliest garment industry disaster ever    CREDIT:  REUTERS   Jack Torrance   23 APRIL 2018 • 12:01AM I t was on this day five years ago that cracks began to appear in the walls of Rana Plaza, the ill-fated complex of clothes factories and shops in Savar, 15 miles outside the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.  Though employees were sent home, they returned to work the following day and around 3,100 were inside when the building began to give way. After a power outage, large generators on the roof had been fired up – sending powerful vibrations through the structure and creating more cracks in load-bearing columns.  That caused the building’s floors to collapse in on themselves, trapping thousands of workers in a concrete concertina that ultimately killed 1,138 people and left many others with...

Sainsbury's in 'advanced' discussions over £10bn-plus merger with Asda to create supermarket giant 72   Alan Tovey   28 APRIL 2018 • 3:15PM + Follow Save Sainsbury's is in talks about a £10bn-plus merger with Asda that could force the sale or closure of hundreds of stores across the UK to win the approval of competition regulators. Sainsbury's confirmed it was in “advanced” discussions with US retail giant Wal-Mart, which owns Asda, about a tie-up, a move which see the combined business overtake Tesco as the market leader in Britain. Such a combination would cause upheaval on the UK high street, creating what was described as a “game-changer of epic proportions” by one supermarket analyst. However, with more than 2,000 stores between Sainsbury's and Asda, watchdogs are likely to demand widespread disposals of outlets to stop dominating swathes of the UK retail market. It is thought an agreeme...