Interesting piece of news I was unaware of............"Asda was recently purchased by billionaire brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital, in a deal valuing it at £6.8bn. ....Mohsin Issa CBE (born July 1971)[1] is a British billionaire, businessman and founder of Euro Garages, a chain of petrol filling stations that operate in Europe.[2] As part of a consortium with his brother Zuber and TDR Capital, he will also become the majority stakeholder in Asda, a deal announced in October 2020 to acquire the supermarket chain from Walmart is approved by regulators in the first half of 2021.[3]
Asda says it has begun consulting with workers over a major restructuring of the business which could put about 5,000 jobs at risk, including 3,000 non-store jobs.
Proposed cuts would include in areas such as cash management, where there is less work as more people shop online.
The company said it planned to create 4,500 jobs as it expands its online offering.
Full article
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56185236Fast fashion chain Primark hopes to offload millions of pounds worth of last year's clothing stock when its shops reopen in England on 12 April.
The High Street giant does not offer online sales and says it expects to have lost £1.1bn in sales due to the latest lockdown closures.
It plans to sell more than £400m of last year's stock to help plug the gap.
Primark said its 153 stores would reopen in England on 12 April, and in Scotland on 26 April.
Unlike rivals, the retailer had no online operation to shift stock when stores were closed during lockdowns.
But Primark is not set up to sell online, and has said the costs involved in distribution and sales online would mean price rises for customers.
Cont
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56182085