Sunday, June 21, 2020

On Thursday, UK-based retailer Tesco and Denmark-based retailer Salling Group announced their agreement over selling a large portion of Tesco’s Polish operation to Salling Group. Tesco stated its intention to leave the Polish market altogether, Salling its intention to strengthen its Netto chain in Poland.

The deal covers 301 stores, two distribution centers and the head office. With the acquisition Salling said it seeks to improve its coverage in Southern Poland and, over 18 months at a cost of one billion z?otys, intends to merge these stores into its currently 386 strong Netto chain. Salling also takes over about 7000 employees from Tesco — Netto Poland currently has about 5000 employees. Tesco continues to run 19 stores, which were not included in this package.

The sale price, to be payed in cash, is 900 million z?otys (181 million pounds). In the 2019/20 fiscal year, Tesco said its Polish branch had a 24 million pounds operating loss with a 1368 million pounds turnover; to which the sold units contributed with a 947 million pounds turnover for a 107 million loss. At fiscal year-end, the sold units held a value of 681 million pounds in the books.

UOKiK, the Polish anti-monopoly agency, has to approve the deal. The parties said they expect a decision this year.

Tesco has suffered losses from its Polish operation for several years, as customer preference has shifted away from hypermarkets, Tesco’s preferred store size, to smaller discount stores like Biedronka and LIDL. The Sunday trade ban, introduced in 2018, also hurt sales. According to Notes from Poland (NFP), some discount stores resorted to offer postal services, a loophole which allows Sunday opening hours.

In 2015, Tesco centralized its management in the Central European region, comprising Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, but reverted the decision later on. At the time, the company invested in e-commerce and started home deliveries, but Gazeta Prawna reports only 0.5% of Polish grocery turnover comes from this segment, compared to 7% in the United Kingdom.

In the past few years, Tesco Polska has cut expenditures by streamlining its product range, halving its staff, shutting off home deliveries in parts of the country, and closing off stores, reportedly including last year its Poznan distribution center. Deutsche Welle (DW) reported in mid-2019, 62 Tesco outlets had closed within a year. Staff layoffs left meat, fish and delicatessen departments without designated shop assistants, and forced staff canteen closures and administration simplifications.

Tesco sold its roughly 2000 Thai and 74 Malaysian stores to Charoen Pokphand in March; announced leaving its joint venture with China Resources Holdings in February; and in 2015 sold its South Korean chain HomePlus. Speaking to Portfolio.hu, Matt Simister, Tesco’s CEO for Central Europe, explained that the company held a 4% share of the Polish retail market, compared to its 16% share in Hungary, and stated they want to stay in Hungary. In a DW report in March of last year, Dave Lewis, CEO of Tesco, stated they did not have intentions of leaving Thailand or Poland.

Tesco’s Polish operation, according to Gazeta Wyborcza in March, is too big for a single monolithic sale. The chain’s press release reported 22 sold units in the past year and a half, for around 200 million pounds. NFP named the Kaufland chain and property developer Echo Investment among the buyers.

Both Tesco and Salling entered the Polish market in 1995.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Two US hikers, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, have been freed from Tehran’s Evin prison in Iran after $1 million bail was paid.

Accused of spying, the men were arrested when they apparently strayed along the unmarked Iran–Iraq border in July 2009, and were recently sentenced to eight years in prison. Arrested with them was a third US hiker, Sarah Shourd, released in 2010 on medical grounds. All three have denied the charges.

The two hikers were bailed and their sentences commuted. Their Iranian attorney, Masoud Shafiei, stated Oman provided the bail.

The two arrived in Muscat, Oman late Wednesday, where they were met by waiting family members as well as fellow hiker Sarah Shourd.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Experts are now fearing the worst for the northern bottle-nosed whale that is still swimming in the Thames river London. The Thames Whale was first spotted on Thursday, with widespread media coverage yesterday and huge crowds of spectators attracted to the river.

There were hopes that the whale was heading back out to sea, but these were dashed by a fresh sighting of the whale from Albert bridge in Chelsea.

Experts say that the whale is now looking increasingly distressed, with numerous cuts to its body. The whale has already been partly beached on a few occasions, but each time has managed to free itself.

According to blogger Andrew (eyedropper.co.uk), a BBC picture editor, if the whale should die it would be up to Admiral the Lord Boyce GCB OBE ‘to arrange for a tooth to be extracted and sent to the Natural History Museum, and a proper burial to be made’.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

New Jersey has reversed its plans for a state-wide ban on bikini waxing after salon owners from across the state spoke out against the proposal.

The New Jersey Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling planned to consider a ban on so-called “Brazilian waxes” in response to two women who reported being injured during a wax.

But state Consumer Affairs Director David Szuchman, who oversees the board, asked them to abandon the ban in favor of reviewing and establishing safeguards for those who provide the service.

“Many commentators have noted that the procedure could be safely performed,” Szuchman wrote in a letter to state board President Ronald Jerome Brown, according to the Asbury Park Press. “I, therefore, believe that there are alternative means to address any public health issues identified by the board.

Salon owners from across the state expressed relief with Szuchman’s decision.

“It was an unnecessary issue,” spa owner Linda Orsuto told the Associated Press. “In New Jersey especially, where the government has been picking our pockets for so long, it was like, ‘Just stay out of our pants, will you?'”

Although millions of Americans get bikini waxes, which generally cost between $50 and $60 per session, the practice comes with risks. Skin care experts say the hot wax can irritate delicate skin in the bikini area, and result in infections, ingrown hairs and rashes.

Waxing on the face, neck, abdomen, legs and arms are permitted in New Jersey. Although state statutes have always banned bikini waxing, the laws are seldom enforced because the wording is unclear.

If the measure had passed, New Jersey might have become the only US state to ban the practice outright.

Although Szuchman’s letter was crafted more as a recommendation than an order, media reports said the ban would likely never be approved without his support because his office oversees the board.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

With three days until the start of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, organisers still have some 12,000 tickets yet unsold after mailing out some 150,000 invitations to buy tickets to the Games’ opening ceremony. At least 40 invitations were sent to the families of 40 deceased people. Organisers have since apologised for this mistake.

Melbourne 2006 chief executive John Harnden says: “Opening ceremony sales are going well…We’ve sold about 4000 tickets over the last seven days, [and] those rates of sales are continuing… Overall, the rate of sales for tickets are fantastic … it’s an enormous number – bigger than any other Commonwealth Games ever sold.” Tickets to the opening ceremony cost $590AUD.

The XVIII Commonwealth Games will be held from March 15th through the 26th. The Opening Ceremony will be held Wednesday night. It will be opened officially by Queen Elizabeth II.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

A Pakistani immigrant was convicted on Wednesday of plotting to blow up a New York City subway station in a case that shed light on police investigation tactics since the Sept 11 attacks.

Shahawar Matin Siraj, faces a maximum life sentence after a Brooklyn federal court jury convicted him of conspiring to place and detonate an explosive on the city’s mass transit system.

Siraj, 23, was arrested on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention on charges he planned to attack a subway station in Herald Square, the dense Manhattan shopping district that includes Macy’s flagship department store.

Siraj claimed he was entrapped by an over-zealous police informant twice his age, Egyptian Osama Eldawoody, 50, who met the Siraj in an Islamic bookstore while spying on mosques for the New York police.

Taped conversations between the two men were played by prosecutors during the trial plans were discussed to bomb the Herald Square subway station in midtown Manhattan.

Mr Eldawoody testified in 2003 and 2004 that he served as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the police and was paid more than US$100,000 to report about daily mosque activities, including prayers.

Prosecutors said Siraj had the will to carry out a plot supporting his extremist views. Their case was strengthened by the testimony of a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty in the case and an undercover police officer who said Siraj openly supported Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The jury also heard testimony by a Bangladeshi-born undercover police officer, who met Siraj while infiltrating a Muslim neighborhood as part of an investigation following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

During one conversation, Siraj “complimented” Osama bin Laden, the officer testified.

“He said he was a talented brother and a great planner and that he hoped bin Laden planned something big for America,” said the officer, who testified under an alias because he is still involved in active investigations.

“The verdict is an important milestone in safeguarding New York against terrorist plotters whether home-grown or foreign,” said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Manchester Magistrates’ court in the UK yesterday jailed a self-described online troll for posting messages to Facebook tribute pages. Colm Coss, 36, was sentenced to eighteen weeks in prison after admitting breaching the Communications Act of 2003.

Coss targeted a page in tribute to the late Jade Goody, made famous by reality TV show Big Brother, as well as a page dedicated to young Liverpool dog-attack victim John Paul Massey. Overseas deceased were also targeted, with Coss trolling tributes to a Canadian murder victim, an Australian road accident fatality and a dead US citizen.

Coss was arrested after he sent typed letters to neighbours containing photographs of himself and explaining he was “a troll”. Although he initially refused to cooperate, Coss later wrote to a police officer and admitted posting the messages, in some of which he said he had had sex with the bodies of the deceased or claimed to have engaged in fictional acts of paedophilia.

“The harm and upset that this can cause is obvious,” according to Paul Mitchell, prosecuting Coss. Coss was charged with ‘sending malicious communications that were grossly offensive’, entering a guilty plea last month. Yesterday, defence lawyer Leanne Press sought investigation of her client’s psychiatric state prior to sentencing, arguing he “had a history of mental health issues.” However, magistrates decided he could be sentenced without this.

Magistrate Pauline Salisbury noted sentencing guidelines of twelve weeks imprisonment, but said the offences were serious enough to warrant 26 weeks. Eight weeks were shaved off the sentence owing to his guilty plea.