Bloomberg Daybreak: Europe 06/26/2025
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Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Asda employs ‘art of war' against Heinz and Nestle
Asda is pressuring suppliers including Heinz, Nestle and General Mills to lower prices as it battles to win back customers. The struggling supermarket is locked in talks with some of its biggest partners as they resist pressure for aggressive cuts. Asda is calling on suppliers to 'share the load' in its price war, which is aimed at reviving its flagging sales. Meetings are set to be held in the coming weeks in an effort to broker agreements with holds-outs, which grocery sources said includes some of the biggest names in the food industry. Asda has re-hired retail veteran Darren Blackhurst as its chief commercial officer to spearhead the negotiations. Mr Blackhurst, who spent four years in the same role between 2006 and 2010, has been tasked with rallying suppliers that have so far refused to concede. His approach to suppliers has been described by former colleagues as 'the art of war'. An Asda source said: 'A lot of suppliers have been supportive. Others are more reluctant. It is about sharing the load. Some just haven't broken out of the four-week [temporary discount] promotion cycle.' By increasing pressure on suppliers, the supermarket hopes to strengthen its price war against the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's. Allan Leighton, Asda's chairman, wants his supermarket to be at least 10pc cheaper than rivals under its 'rollback' price-cutting plan. However, some of the UK's biggest food producers have so far been reluctant to support the retailer as its sales continue to decline. Despite Mr Leighton's ambitious price-cutting efforts since taking over in November, Asda's market share has fallen from 12.5pc to 11.9pc, according to Kantar. Sales volumes have also been shrinking. Figures from NIQ seen by The Telegraph show that spending on groceries was down 4.6pc in the four weeks to May 17, compared to a 4pc decline over the year as a whole. An industry source said: 'The idea behind 'rollback' is that you get the volume moving first, and then you get suppliers to invest further. 'But what's happened is that Asda has invested in rollback, and the volumes haven't come through. The suppliers are holding back investment because they aren't getting the guaranteed volumes they will need. 'There has to be something in it for them. If they are putting their money into Tesco and Sainsbury's, then they are getting a return. If they are putting their money into Asda, then there is no guaranteed return. It is high risk.' The supermarket has argued that sales have turned a corner in recent weeks and bosses are hopeful that Mr Blackhurst can accelerate growth by getting more suppliers to lower prices. 'For creating chaos, he's great,' said a former colleague. 'We all know what Darren's box of tricks is, and that's bringing out the art of war.' His impending arrival this month has already sparked concerns among some brands. The boss of one Asda supplier said: 'What we have spotted is that the buyers are not talking to anyone unless it is about money. 'We are just keeping our heads down because we fear that when the phone rings, that is what it's going to be about. The general background feeling is that it's desperate times, desperate measures, because they're a business in trouble.' Asda has also been dramatically reducing its range in recent months in an effort to drive higher sales volumes for items that remain. Mr Leighton said in March: 'It's pretty basic stuff, but it's there to grow the business, so what I'm saying is it's good for suppliers because they will get more volume.' The fight to win over suppliers is crucial if Asda is to have any hope of restoring market share, which has been in freefall ever since the business was bought by TDR Capital and the Issa brothers for £6.8bn in 2021. Mr Leighton said recent price cuts had helped Asda open up a price gap with its competitors, which helped the business record its strongest sales performance in a year. 'What we're looking at here is the business turning,' he said in May. An Asda spokesman said: 'The material investment we are making this year to lower prices has already made a difference by opening up a 3pc-6pc price gap over other traditional full-service supermarkets.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's ‘reciprocal' tariff pause is about to expire. Cue the confusion
The 90-day deadline President Donald Trump set for countries to make trade deals with the United States or risk substantially higher tariffs is just days away. What will happen after that's reached at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 9 is anyone's best guess. The stakes could not be higher, with the entire global economy on notice. On April 2, a date Trump dubbed 'Liberation Day,' he unveiled new, 'reciprocal' tariff rates for key US trading partners, with some levies as high as 50%. Collectively, the rates were the highest the US has charged on foreign goods in over a century. Economists quickly sounded alarms about a recession hitting not just certain countries, but rather the whole world. As the tariffs went into effect on April 9, they sparked a sell-off on Wall Street and the bond market rebelled, forcing Trump to announce a three-month pause to give countries more time to solidify deals with the US, saying investors 'were getting a little bit yippy, a little afraid.' Since then, almost all goods the US imports have been subject to a minimum 10% tariff. Stocks, meanwhile, have not only recovered all those losses but have set multiple new record highs. And inflation has barely budged. But if tariffs start to rise again and inflation roars back, those gains could quickly get erased all over again. After months of meeting with foreign government officials and countless claims that several trading partners were on the cusp of completing deals, only three have been announced. One of those, with Vietnam, has yet to be finalized and few details are known about it. Still, the Trump administration is advertising that a flurry of deals are forthcoming. At the same time, the president has threatened to send letters to countries that don't ink deals, telling them the rate at which their exports to the US will be taxed. Leading up to July 9, Trump administration officials threatened to simply return to April tariff rates, or possibly even higher levies. They also floated the possibility of extending the pause for countries 'negotiating in good faith,' without defining what that means or which it includes. It's not clear where Trump, who will get the ultimate say, stands. 'We can do whatever we want. We could extend it; we could make it shorter,' Trump recently said. 'I'd like to make it shorter. I'd like to just sent letters out to everybody, 'Congratulations, you're paying 25%.'' 'We'll look at how a country treats us — are they good, are they not so good — some countries we don't care, we'll just send a high number out,' Trump also recently said. On Friday, he said he'd begin sending letters over the coming days. 'They'll range in value from maybe 60% or 70% tariffs to 10% and 20% tariffs,' Trump said. For many countries, such rates would deal an even bigger economic blow compared to the levels Trump announced in April. But countries may have the opportunity to still negotiate, given Trump said most new rates won't take effect until August 1. The deal Trump announced on Wednesday with Vietnam, which calls for minimum tariffs of 20% on Vietnamese goods, double the rate throughout the three-month pause, has raised the possibility that countries may not be able to score lower rates even if they reach a trade agreement. But considering tariffs on Vietnam were set to rise to a minimum of 46% if the rates Trump announced in April held — which was among the highest Trump announced — 20% suddenly feels like a relief. That may be an intentional strategy on Trump's part, allowing him to stick to his major campaign promise of levying higher tariffs on other nations in an effort to raise revenues and bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. 'On balance, we take the US-Vietnam accord as a positive step toward more durable bilateral deals for the US and toward greater clarity for investors,' Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, said in a note last week. 'Headline risks around trade may persist as negotiations continue, but we think the market impact should moderate as President Trump's negotiating tactics become increasingly familiar,' he said. 'Ultimately, we expect the US administration to prioritize economic stability over more maximalist tariffs, especially ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.' 擷取數據時發生錯誤 登入存取你的投資組合 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Europe's Dilemma: Build a Military Industry or Keep Relying on the U.S.
European countries have committed to spending nearly double on military investments over the next decade, with high hopes that it will benefit their defense industries. But it is not clear that all that money — perhaps as much as 14 trillion euros, or $16 trillion — will fuel a flurry of high-end innovation in Europe. That is because of what one might call the F-35 problem. Europe lacks quality alternatives to some of the most needed and desired defense equipment that American companies produce. Among them is the F-35, Lockheed Martin's famed stealth fighter jet, whose advanced abilities are unmatched by European counterparts. Patriot missile-defense systems are also imported from America, as are rocket launchers, sophisticated drones, long-range artillery guided by satellite, integrated command and control systems, electronic and cyber warfare capabilities — along with most of the software required to run them. And because many European nations have already invested in American weapons, they want new purchases to remain compatible. The pledged investments have created a tension. Should European nations build their own military industry? Does the war in Ukraine and the threat of a militarized Russia allow that much lead-time? Or should they continue to invest, at least in part, in America's already available, cutting-edge technology? Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
