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Metro Group reaches profit forecast

Kroger could haul in huge gains with Trump tax cut

Meijer Outlines Plan for New Superstores in Ohio by 2020
In a new bid for growth in Northeast Ohio, Meijer has revealed plans to build five new superstores. By 2020, the chain plans to add new locations in Lorain County, Avon, Bainbridge, Mentor, and Stow. "Lorain looks like a perfect location as part of our push into Northeast Ohio and the Cleveland area," said Meijer Senior Director of Communications Frank Guglielmi, according to Cleveland.com. "Now, the closest Meijer stores to Cleveland are in Sandusky and Mansfield. We would like to change that with the sites we have either purchased or put under contract.”

Metro Group reaches profit forecast
In fiscal 2015-2016, German Metro Group managed to reach its profit forecast. Previously, it had announced its full-year turnover dropped slightly compared to the year before. Metro Group's total turnover dropped 1.4 % to 58.4 billion euro, something the group had announced earlier. Now, it revealed its profit numbers and those were a lot better: its group EBIT grew 50 million euro from 1.51 to 1.56 billion euro.



Consumers still face restrictions while shopping online in Europe
Consumers in Europe are still not able to shop online in the European Union without being discriminated against because of their nationality. Online stores across the continent keep refusing customers from other countries, charging higher prices to foreign customers, or creating virtual boundaries in some other way.



Fiji supermarket chain opens new shop
Members of the public in Labasa can now experience a whole new level of shopping experience, following the opening of the latest New World Supermarket in Labasa this morning.

Sobeys owner reports 'very disappointing' quarter as struggles grow
As the parent of grocer Sobeys Inc. posted another quarter of poor results, it said it has launched a broad review of the company’s costs in a bid to pare them down and become a more nimble operation. Empire Co. Ltd. said, Wednesday night, that its second-quarter profit slumped by more than half to $33.1-million or 12 cents a share from $68.5-million or 25 cents a share a year earlier. Sales slipped to $5.9-billion from $6.1-billion.

Kroger could haul in huge gains with Trump tax cut
Kroger Co. stands to get a healthy boost to its profits if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with plans to significantly lower the corporate tax rate. That’s true for any company, but Cincinnati-based Kroger (NYSE: KR), the nation's largest operator of traditional supermarkets, is one of the big companies that stands to benefit more than most. That's because all of its sales are domestic and it gets few tax breaks. Trump has talked about lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to as low as 15 percent when he becomes president. House Republicans have been targeting 20 percent. Either way, Kroger stands to reap the benefits.

Hundreds of Walgreens stores could be sold to Kroger, Fred's
Hundreds of Walgreens stores could be sold to Kroger and Fred's Pharmacy as part of a deal to shed properties and clear the way for the drug store chain's acquisition of Rite-Aid. The deal involves as many as 1,000 Walgreens and Rite Aid stores that operator, Walgreens Boots Alliance, must divest in order to win regulatory approval for its planned $9.4 billion acquisition of the smaller drug store chain. Operating in more than 8,137 U.S. stores, Walgreens is the nation's largest drug store chain. Rite aid has about 4,500 locations and rival CVS has around 9,600 stores.

How Kroger could be impacted by Amazon’s latest threat
Online shopping giant Amazon.com has fired the latest volley in the grocery wars, and it could have an impact on Cincinnati-based supermarket giant Kroger Co. Amazon announced last week the formation of Amazon Go. The news came amid some secrecy and confusion. The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon would open 2,000 stores. But Amazon said it’s not planning anything near that amount. It’s simply testing the concept and learning at this point. What’s clear is that Amazon is trying out Amazon Go in Seattle. The concept allows customers to walk into the store, tap their cellphones against a turnstile to log them in, grab the items they want and leave. The bill gets charged through their Amazon account. No checkouts, no hassle. It’s fast and easy, and it could disrupt the grocery industry.

Supermarket Shoprite to merge with Steinhoff

South African retail giants Steinhoff International and supermarket group Shoprite Holding, said on Wednesday, that they were in talks to merge their African operations to form a single company worth over $14 billion. The companies said in a statement that they had initiated talks “regarding the potential combination of their respective African retail businesses” with an objective of creating what could be regarded as “the retail champion of Africa”. The new venture, to be called Retail Africa, would have annual revenues of about 200 billion rand ($14.6 billion).

Six things you need to know about ACCC v Woolworths
On 8 December 2016, the Federal Court handed down its decision in ACCC v Woolworths Limited: dismissing the ACCC’s case against Woolworths Limited (Woolworths) in which it alleged that the supermarket chain had engaged in unconscionable conduct in contravention of s21(1) of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). In the proceedings, the ACCC alleged that Woolworths acted unconscionably in the design and implementation of a scheme to seek payments from suppliers to make up an expected shortfall in Woolworths’ profits (known internally as the ‘Mind the Gap’ scheme). Given the ACCC’s victory against Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd (Coles), in 2015, the case bears examination as to how two similar fact scenarios could lead to such different results.