Supermarket boss moans about consequences of underpaying staff.

From The Mirror:

Iceland managing director Richard Walker said: "Nationwide, the UK is currently short of at least 100,000 HGV drivers – the truckers we all rely on to keep us supplied with our food and other daily needs. This is due to a combination of factors, including our historic failure to value this essential work correctly..."

The 'bond proxies' - love 'em or hate 'em?

Whilst supermarket shareholders took a bath in 2013/2014, investors in branded consumable goods maker Unilever have doubled their money in the last five years.  Depressed margins from fierce competition have been widely blamed for the poor performance of the likes of Tesco.  Yet blue chip consumer non-cyclical companies - investments people are calling "bond proxies" in a word of 0% rates - just don't appear to be affected.  Unilever, and companies like it, trade on 25 times gross earnings, much like 'bricks and mortar' in London.

Given that the Lidl and Aldi sell very little branded produce, and consumers are switching to them in droves, it always struck me branded goods companys' margins would be next in line for a haircut.  So it comes as little surprise that troubled retailer Tesco have fallen out with the maker of Marmite:

"Reports suggest that Unilever ... has demanded steep price increases of around 10 per cent to offset the increased costs [from the fall in sterling] ... Products have disappeared from Tesco's website after the supermarket chain refused to accept the price increase ..."

Now if everyone refuses to accept the new price, and simply substitutes Colman's with a supermarket English mustard on their shelves - on sale at a third of the cost or less - how does this help Unilever?

Of course another reason the likes of Unilever became a darling stock of the big fund managers was the fall in the price of oil. If consumers are spending less at the pumps they can afford more branded ice creams went the thesis. With petrol prices in pounds on the up again the reverse must be true surely?

So do we dare sell short the 'bond proxies' or are they really going to the moon in a world of negative interest rates and fed up savers?

NOTE: This is a not financial advice or a solicitation to buy or sell securities but an article for academic interest and discussion.

Fun Online Polls: Donald Trump; Plastic bags.

The results to last fortnight's Fun Online Poll:

Should Donald Trump be banned from coming to the UK?

Yes - 5%
No - 95%

That's crystal clear, I would have thought. I was with the majority yet again. A good turnout on 188, but as mentioned, the poll did run for two weeks.
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Something else I've been thinking about…

From The Telegraph:

The 5p plastic bag levy has resulted in an almost 80 per cent drop in the number of bags taken home by supermarket shoppers in England, the first data since the introduction of the charge suggests.

Early figures from Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, suggest the levy is succeeding in its aim of drastically reducing usage of single-use carrier bags, 7.6 billion of which were handed out by major English supermarkets last year alone.

That works out at about six or seven supermarket plastic bags per household per week pre-5 October 2015, which seems 'about right' i.e. a trolley full at the weekend plus a couple of smaller shops in the week.

I ended up paying 5p once, shortly after the 'tax' was introduced, but that was it. Since then I've managed to remember to bring my own bags or I just make do without. So my plastic bag usage is, on the face of it*, down nearly 100%. Is this the same for everybody?

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.

* As Nessimmersion points out in the comments, perhaps people are just buying more bin liners etc.

Doesn't really tell you much

From the Telegraph

In the latest blow to the troubled supermarket, Tesco ranked at the bottom of a list of eight grocery chains that included, in ascending order, the Co-operative, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose in the top spot.

Market share chart



Find more statistics at Statista The co-op seems to be in the most trouble.