Tesco-Booker deal allows bigger crops from suppliers

France's Le Groupement Les Mousquetaires sees sales rise across EU
French retailer Le Groupement Les Mousquetaires, which operates the Intermarché chain, has seen its sales rise 1.9% across its European operations in full year 2016, according to accounts just filed. The group's six banners, Intermarché, Netto, Bricomarché, Brico Cash, Poivre Rouge and Roady, together achieved €36bn worth of sales, while its agri-food division posted sales of €4.1bn, giving it a total of €40.2bn worth of sales for the year. Its core retail brands, Intermarché and Netto, saw revenues reach €25.8bn (excl. fuel), and grew their market share by 1.5%. (esmmagazine.com)

UK: Tesco-Booker deal allows bigger crop from individual suppliers
The hefty savings that can be made by reducing food waste are one of the factors behind Tesco's 3.7bn pound takeover offer for wholesaler Booker, Tesco's boss said. "By coming together with Booker, it’s going to allow us at Tesco to be able to buy a greater percentage of agricultural crops from individual players so that they then don’t waste it," he said. (Reuters)

UK: Aldi, Lidl break 12% market share barrier
Discounters Aldi and Lidl have broken the 12% market share barrier in the UK for the first time, according to Nielsen retail data published today. The data, for the 12-week period to 25 February, found that Aldi now accounts for 7.4% of the market, with Lidl accounting for 4.8%; a combined share of 12.2%. The study found that in the period, Aldi’s share grew 12.0% year-on-year, while Lidl’s was up 9.1%. This is way ahead of the market average of 2.2%, and well ahead of market leader Tesco, which saw its sales rise 0.8% year-on-year. (esmmagazine.com)

US: Instacart raising $400m to expand grocery business
Instacart is in advanced talks to raise around $400m in new venture capital funding at a $3bn valuation, Axios has learned from multiple sources. The on-demand grocery delivery company previously was valued at around $2bn, after having raised more than $260m. Word is that existing shareholder Sequoia Capital will lead the new deal. (axios.com)

France: Casino's 2016 core profits rise
French retailer Casino (CASP.PA) expressed confidence on Tuesday of boosting sales and earnings this year after delivering a promised rise in profits and cash flow in its core French market, and cutting back on its debt burden last year. For 2017, Casino predicted growth of at least 10% in group operating profit at current exchange rates, having achieved a 3.7% rise in 2016, despite a weak performance in Brazil, its second-largest market after France. (Reuters)

South-African grocers sell less unprocessed fresh produce
South Africans want to buy fresh, healthy food, but they don’t want to peel their own veggies any more, grocery shops say. Shoprite now sells as much convenience food in a day as it did in a month a year ago, said Arno Abeln, manager of the fresh produce division of the group. According to the market research company Euromonitor, Shoprite was number three in the market for preferred meals. Shoprite’s market share was 9%. Woolworths was in first place with 36% and Pick n Pay was second with 18. (city-press.news24.com)

Coop Sweden online sales rise by over 50%
Coop Sweden, the hub of the supermarket chain Coop, reported a profit of SEK 341m for 2016. This represented a notable increase from last years profit of 166m kroner the year before. Its turnover however, decreased to 31.6bn from 32.2bn a year earlier. The company's also saw their online sales rise by over 50%. Coop's CEO was very pleased with the results saying ,"We stand firmly, and it just gets better every day". (sydostran.se)

Revailed: The UK's cheapest grocer on garage forecourts
The cheapest convenience store on Britain's garage forecourts has now been revealed. According to a new report, Sainsbury's is top of the shops when it comes to being the cheapest. A shopping basket of nine everyday items of food and drink at Sainsbury's Local was £7 cheaper than the most expensive store tested in a survey of six leading chains. Please, click here to read more. (mirror.co.uk)

South Korea's Lotte reports store closures in China amid political stand-off
Chinese authorities have closed nearly two dozen retail stores of South Korea's Lotte Group following inspections, ramping up pressure on the conglomerate amid a diplomatic standoff that has cast a chill over business ties between the two nations. Lotte said on Monday that 23 of its China supermarket stores had been shut, reaching from Dandong on China's North Korean border to the wealthy east coast and southern Changzhou, marking a wide clamp-down on the group in its biggest overseas market. (esmmagazine.com)

UK: Budgens closing 34 stores
Budget supermarket Budgens are closing 34 of its stores. Food Retailer Operations Limited (FROL) appointed PwC as administrator last month after experiencing 'difficult trading conditions'. But the accountancy firm has failed to find a buyer for the group. A total of 815 staff have begun the redundancy process. (mirror.co.uk)

Supermarket sales grow at fastest rate since 2014
The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 26 February 2017, show supermarket sales grew at their fastest rate since June 2014 – up by 2.3% compared to the same time last year – driven by accelerating food inflation. Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “Like-for-like inflation has doubled since last month to stand at 1.4% during the past 12 weeks. However, when placed in their longer-term context, these price increases are still fairly minimal.” He added: “Staples such as butter, tea and fish all saw prices rise by more than 5% during the past 12 weeks, as fruit and vegetables – many of which are imported – also saw an uptick in price.” (kamcity.com)

China: JD.com delivers strong 2016 results
For the full year of 2016, JD.com has reported net revenues of CNY260.2bn (US$37.5 bn), representing a 44% increase from a year ago. Net revenues for the full year of 2016 were RMB260.2bn (US$37.5bn), an increase of 44% from the full year of 2015. Revenues from services and others, mainly from the company’s ecommerce marketplace, increased by 66% in 2016. (igd.com)