Author: Terence Ritchie

It was announced last year that ASDA were taking over the Danish brand Netto in attempt to gain momentum against it’s supermarket rivals. This has been approved by the Office of Fair Trading today.

For supermarkets, land resources are scarce – and even if you are lucky enough to have huge ‘land banks’ to build premises on like Tesco; strict regulations usually prevent supermarkets from building as they wish. Therefore, unlike Tesco and Sainsbury’s who have successfully rolled out smaller stores to appeal to their time-poor or city customers, ASDA, by failing to implement smaller stores has been less successful in the supermarket war.

The acquisition of Netto for ASDA will add 147 extra stores to the company and 1.2million sq ft of space. With ASDA’s organic growth, the company will add 168 stores to its portfolio this year. This could become fierce competition to the likes of Sainsbury’s, whom ASDA lost out to the number two position this Christmas.

ASDA could face a challenging year ahead even with the added stores. Their marketing campaign to be 10% cheaper than it’s rivals was removed after confusing messages to the public and Tesco have retaliated by launching their own similar campaign. Consumers are now more picky on where they shop – when Tesco and Sainsbury’s expanded they did in a time when consumers wanted convenience… now the consumer wants the best value for money. Even though ASDA may soon be everywhere, they need to appeal to the fickle British public on quality, price and convenience. ASDA are confident that the acquisition will be a profound success and also in the current economic climate with the uncertainty of employment, it is refreshing that ASDA will be creating an extra 1,500 jobs; this could demonstrate that companies are returning to their usual form.

However, the approval of these stores without going through the process of the Competition Commission may see a change in the rules for supermarkets – will Morrisons, ASDA and Tesco be allowed to expand so readily as well? If this proves to be a successful move for ASDA, the other top 4 supermarkets may have to rethink their strategy. Only time will tell…

Author: Terence Ritchie

Its not all doom and gloom on the high street as retail giant John Lewis revealed yet another hugely impressive set of sales figures for the recent festive period.
With like-for-like sales up 7.6% for the last five weeks of 2010, John Lewis continues to strengthen its love affair with the British public. Although the snowy weather clearly had some impact, it would seem that the main effect was to drive business to the online arm of John Lewis where it is reported that sales were up by almost a half on last year.

This is an impressive performance and is evidence of the John Lewis brand continuing to go from strength to strength despite harsh trading conditions in the retail sector at large.
Other retailers can only aspire to achieve this level of success. The next 12 months are likely to be testing for all in the retail sector and there is no reason to suspect that John Lewis will be immune.
As we’re often told, past performance should never be used as an indicator of future performance but if this set of results is anything to go by, John Lewis should be confident in its ability to thrive going forward.

Author: Terence Ritchie

As you may have read from our website, in October Steve Kenneford is attempting to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and raise funds for the trust set up for Chris Ryan the nephew of SA Law’s Managing Partner Steven Ryan.

Steve has provided a little more detail in terms of what lies ahead.

After a 24 hour journey via Adisababa Steve will arrive in Tanzania and be allowed, what he thinks will be, about 15 minutes to lie around the pool before assembling kit and attending a briefing for the challenge which will commence the next morning.

Over the next 4 days  Steve will be trekking/climbing/crawling over a variety of different landscapes ranging from rain forest through moorland and eventually into the moonlike volcanic scenery beyond.  Over these 4 he will be covering a distance of approximately 40 kilometres, but given the nature of the terrain, it is expected to take around 40 hours and he will be ascending through approximately 3,500 metres.

At midnight on day 4/5 the summit challenge will commence which is undertaken by torchlight.  This, all being well, is expected to take 6 or so hours and the summit will be achieved at a height of 5,896 metres, the highest point on the African continent.  After that he pretty much falls off the other side and rolls down to the bottom.  In reality the trek down will take approximately 1 and a half days.

As part of his training regime, which Steve has been undertaking since May he has most recently climbed Mount Snowdon which in equal measure he found challenging, terrifying in places, but rewarding.   However on Snowdon he did not have to take into account the debilitating effects of altitude sickness, nasty bugs, extreme wet and possibly freezing conditions and, more seriously, having to share a tent for 6 nights with a mate who can snore for England!

Assuming his safe return I am sure that Steve will share all of the details of his challenge when he gets back.

Good Luck Steve!

For more information on the Chris Ryan Trust or details on how to sponsor Steve, please click here.

Author: Terence Ritchie

In line with their pre-election manifestos, the new  coalition  government has announced that the definition of ‘previously developed land’  otherwise known as ‘brownfield land’ is no longer to include garden land.  The intention being that it will be easier for councils to stop unwanted developments and reject planning applications for developments that local people oppose, or which are considered to ruin the character of the area, preventing the practice of ‘garden grabbing’ by developers.

Under the old rules, residential garden land was considered suitable for development and the previous government encouraged high density development on such sites. Local authorities have found it difficult to prevent the trend of houses being built in gardens as developers and home owners alike have taken advantage of these rules . Indeed, in 2008 a quarter of new homes were built on garden land. This is a figure the new government is keen to reduce by favouring development of existing empty properties or the development of what they consider to be genuine brownfield sites such as derelict industrial areas and wasteland. Whether it has the desired effect, only time will tell. In practice, many small to medium sized developers  nationwide  will be looking at this with a degree of concern with planning restrictions likely to become more strict as a consequence.

Author: Terence Ritchie

As part of Government plans to stop landlords being able to take advantage of tenants in the rental market, all private landlords may be required to be registered before letting residential property.

A landlord wanting to let a residential property would have to pay around £50 to register with a national body before being able to do so. This body would then set the standards which, if not complied with, would allow them to ‘strike off’ those landlords who had for example, failed to carry out repairs to the property. If this happened, the tenants would be required to vacate the property, although the Government has suggested that there would be a delay in asking them to do this. One idea has been to set up a ‘social letting agent’ which would place affected tenants into more suitable rental accommodation.

The aim of the new registration system is to root out ‘rogue’ landlords, but in fact it has been suggested that the system may in fact drive out small buy-to-let investors. The system would be regulated by an independent body which would adjudicate complaints made by tenants. Landlords could face losing their licence if these complaints were upheld. Although they would have a right of appeal, it may be many years before they are able to get back into the rental property market.

A Green Paper is set to outline the reforms and is expected by 14th May 2009.