Asda co-owner Zuber Issa close to securing a deal to sell his £500m stake in the supermarket to its private equity backer TDR Capital. Issa is understood in the final stages of negotiations to dispose of his 22.5% holding in the grocery giant, Bloomberg reported. If successful, the deal will give TDR Capital a majority stake in Asda and further unwind the business ties between Issa and his brother, Mohsin. Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free  Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning  Zuber Issa began talks about selling his stake in Asda in Febr ..read more

Hundreds of Waitrose customer service workers at a key outsourcer that previously faced redundancy are no longer at risk. The John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose, was reported back in February to be planning to reduce the number of staff it employs at customer service provider Foundever as it looked to streamline costs. According to The Grocer, most of the 200 staff working on the Waitrose team had been given 45 days redundancy notice. However, Foundever is understood to have emailed impacted workers last week to inform them they were “no longer at risk of redundancy” after a peri ..read more

Tesco will appear before the Supreme Court next week as union leaders challenge a Court of Appeal ruling on the supermarket’s controversial “fire and rehire” tactics. The case, which will be heard on Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 April, is part of a long-running legal battle between the two. Usdaw members employed by Tesco in its Daventry and Litchfield Distribution Centres won a landmark legal victory against the supermarket back in 2021 after it had proposed to remove “retained pay”, which the union claimed dismissed staff and offered to re-engage them on “inferior” terms and conditions. The s ..read more

Laura Ashley is relaunching fashion this month, debuting a new collection in partnership with Next. The 47-piece collection, which will be available to purchase at selected Next stores and on the retailer’s website, features a range of blouses, dresses, skirts, trousers, shorts and skirts, in sizes from six to 22. The spring/summer range will include the brand’s heritage prints, high necks and big prairie dresses in traditional Laura Ashley styles, in a bid to appeal to the increasing number of shoppers favouring vintage fashion. Celebrating its history, the collection draws inspiration from i ..read more

Hundreds of Morrisons workers have threatened to launch strike action over a change to their pensions that will leave them worse off by around £500 a year, says Unite union. The union says “approximately 1,000 Unite members” working at the supermarket’s warehouses in Cheshire and Wakefield are taking part in a ballot to decide whether workers will strike to “protect their pensions and take home pay”. The new change will allegedly force workers to increase their own pension contributions, while the grocer reduces its contributions by the same amount, allowing for workers’ monthly pay packe ..read more

Grocery platform Gopuff is price matching Aldi on essential groceries for customers living in London. The new campaign will see the instant delivery firm price match 45 everyday products for a limited time, allowing users to order selected fresh produce, meat, dairy, pasta, rice and cleaning products “at Aldi prices” and delivered to their door in minutes. Gopuff said the Aldi Price Match range includes groceries from Morrisons’ own-brand range and big brands such as Pepsi and Warburtons. Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free  Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inb ..read more

British retail sales volumes remained flat last month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), marking the first time revenues have not risen in monthly terms since December. Economists polled by Reuters had mostly forecast sales volumes would increase by 0.3% on the month after high inflation eased recently. But the ONS said sales volumes were estimated to stay at 0.0% in March, following a 0.1% rise in February. Non-food stores sales volume rose by 0.5%, with increased footfall reported by some retailers, which was offset by drops in food stores and non-store retailers of 0.7 ..read more

UK supermarkets have been accused of using “inconsistent” and “misleading” labelling on products, making it difficult for customers to know where their groceries come from. An investigation by Which? found that grocers were selling goods which had “meaningless” statements on their packets. It’s mandatory for retailers to include the country of origin on specific foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, unprocessed meats, fish, olive oil and wine, although the requirements do not generally apply to processed or frozen meat and processed vegetables and fruit. Despite this, researchers from Whic ..read more

Superdry co-founder and chief executive Julian Dunkerton issued shareholders an ultimatum this week: support my restructuring plan or the business will collapse into administration. The ailing fashion retailer’s last-ditch attempt to stay afloat includes gaining rent reductions across 39 of its 94 UK stores, a £10m equity raise underwritten by Dunkerton, and delisting from the stock market. Dunkerton tells Retail Gazette: “The business is in a serious situation. It is vital that these proposals are approved, and the restructuring plan goes ahead, which allows us to save jobs and would be the b ..read more

Iceland has updated its slogan “That’s why mums go to Iceland” to highlight that people other than mothers shop in the supermarket. The frozen foods retailer changed its strapline to “That’s why we go to Iceland” under a new advertising push, which its bosses claim reflect its “growing customer base” outside mums. Despite the updated strapline, the supermarket’s new adverts will continue its tradition of featuring famous mums, with its latest showing TV personality Josie Gibson. Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free  Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each mo ..read more