Retail news round-up on June 18, 2015: Google eyes Dunnhumby bid, House of Fraser sales jump afer online shopping surge and MRSA found in UK supermarkets’ pork products.
Google explores joint takeover bid for Dunnhumby
Google Capital is looking to join forces with UK private equity firm Permira to make a combined offer for Tesco’s customer loyalty unit Dunnhumby, which is worth as much as £2bn. Google’s venture capital firm is thought to be on a longlist of 10 parties eyeing a bid for the grocer’s Clubcard business nextmonth, according to Sky News.
The longlist will be sent detailed information on Dunnhumby in the next fortnight. First round bids are scheduled to be filed by the end of July.
Online shopping fuels like-for-likes at House of Fraser
House of Fraser’s like-for-like sales jumped by 8.1% in the first quarter, driven by a rise in online shopping, reports The Telegraph. Online sales surged by 40%, stronger than the 32% growth recorded in the year to the end of January. In-store purchases rose by 3.1% on a like-for-like basis.
Pork contaminated with MRSA superbug in UK
A Guardian probe has found that pork products sold in several UK supermarkets have been contaminated with a strain of livestock-associated MRSA CC398, which originates in animals. MRSA was discovered in pork products sold in Sainsbury’s, Asda, the Co-operative and Tesco.
This revelation has prompted calls to thwart misuse of antibiotics in intensive farming. Of the 100 packets of pork chops, bacon and gammon tested, nine – eight Danish and one Irish –were found to have been infected with CC398.
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