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American journalist Austin Tice is alive and in Syria more than a decade after his disappearance, his family says. Tice went missing in 2012 a few days after celebrating his 31st birthday in the country, where he went to report on the civil war that began in 2011. Siblings Meagan Tice Malone and Simon Robert Tice on Monday told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that the family has reliable information that their brother is alive but could not share how they know. Simon Robert was only 19 when his older brother went missing, he said. “We have a strong faith in the American government, and we were all raised with a faith in the American government,” Simon Robert Tice said.

Persons: Austin Tice, Tice, Bashar al, Meagan Tice Malone, Simon Robert Tice, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, ” Malone, “ It’s, Biden, ”, Simon Robert, “, ” Simon Robert Tice, there’s, Joe Biden, ” Biden, Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, John Kirby, MSNBC “ That’s, he’s, ” Kirby, Andrea Mitchell, ” Hadi, Assad Organizations: The, Department, Hostage Affairs, U.S, NBC News, White House, MSNBC, National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary, Opposition Forces, NBC Locations: Syria, U.S, Syrian, Houston, Beirut, Lebanon

☆ NatWest swoops on retailer Sainsbury's banking business
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The disposal by Sainsbury's mirrors this year's deal by rival supermarket chain Tesco to offload most of its banking activities to Barclays for 600 million pounds. The assets acquired include 1.4 billion pounds in unsecured personal loans, 1.1 billion pounds in credit card balances and about 2.6 billion pounds of customer deposits. The deal is expected to close in March 2025 and NatWest will receive an additional 125 million pounds payment from Sainsbury's at completion. Argos Financial Services (AFS) is also excluded from the deal, the retailer said, adding that its plans for this business will be announced at a future date. Sainsbury's expects to return excess capital of at least 250 million pounds to investors after the disposal and its future model for AFS is in place.

Persons: Jose Sarmento Matos, Paul Thwaite, Thwaite, Sainsbury's, Simon Roberts Organizations: National Statistics, Bloomberg, Getty, NatWest, Sainsbury, NatWest Chief, Tesco, Barclays, Argos Financial Services Locations: London

☆ Sainsbury’s gain is private equity’s pain
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Red hot competition in the UK grocery market is favoring the largest players. Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts reckons the 6.5 billion pound group has been taking market share from rivals including discounters Aldi and Lidl. That may not be good news for Sainsbury’s smaller peers like Morrisons and Asda, owned by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and EG Group respectively. Both Sainsbury’s and Tesco have held their market shares relatively stable since 2021, when CD&R bought Wm Morrison. Sainsbury’s is currently valued at 5 times forward EBITDA, according to LSEG data.

Persons: J Sainsbury’s, Simon Roberts reckons, Wm Morrison, Aimee Donnellan, Aston Martin, Neil Unmack, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, Aldi, Tesco, Clayton, Rice, EG, R, Asda, Morrisons, Pfizer, Thomson Locations: Britain’s, Asda, Dubilier

☆ Sainsbury's says UK food inflation falling as sales rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( James Davey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies Q1 like-for-like sales up 9.8%Says has returned to volume growthKeeps profit guidance for full yearLONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - Sainsbury's (SBRY.L), Britain's second largest supermarket group, said on Tuesday food inflation was starting to fall as a return to volume growth helped power a 9.8% rise in quarterly underlying sales. The group, which has a 15% share of Britain's grocery market, also maintained guidance for a 2023-24 underlying pretax profit of 640-700 million pounds ($812-$888 million) versus 690 million pounds in 2022-23. "Food inflation is starting to fall and we are fully committed to passing on savings to our customers," Sainsbury's CEO Simon Roberts said, pointing to 60 million pounds in lower prices since March. Last month, market leader Tesco (TSCO.L), reported a 9% rise in first-quarter underlying UK sales and said food inflation had peaked. While the UK government has raised concerns about the surge in food prices it says it is not considering imposing price caps.

Persons: Simon Roberts, James Davey, Sarah Young, Paul Sandle, Jason Neely Organizations: Aldi, Tesco, Thomson Locations: Britain, Sainsbury's, Europe

☆ Britain's Sainsbury's offers lower prices to loyalty card holders
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( James Davey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Illuminated signage is seen at a branch of the Sainsbury's supermarket in London, Britain, January 7, 2022. Sainsbury's' "Nectar Prices" scheme offers discounts on items including household products, pet food and confectionary when members scan their Nectar app or swipe their card at the supermarket checkout, or if shopping online link their Nectar and Sainsbury's accounts. "We will keep refreshing Nectar Prices and increasing the variety of products on offer," said Sainsbury's CEO Simon Roberts. Nectar members will continue to earn points for purchases which can be spent either at Sainsbury's or with partners. The new initiative builds on a scheme launched in 2021 that saw Sainsbury's offer lower prices to Nectar members using its "SmartShop" self-scanner service.

☆ British supermarkets confront their German discounting demons
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( James Davey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

And the discounters' supermarket sweep still has a long way to run, industry executives say, with Aldi UK CEO Giles Hurley pledging Britain's lowest prices "no matter what". "Over the Christmas period alone shoppers switched 58 million pounds ($70 million)(of purchases) to Lidl from Tesco and Sainsbury's," Lidl GB CEO Ryan McDonnell told Reuters. Tesco and Sainsbury's are now matching Aldi prices on hundreds of key items and using customer loyalty schemes, while they have accepted a profit hit to keep prices down. Sector executives, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the further rise of Aldi and Lidl is inexorable. "Nobody's going to take Tesco out but at some point somebody might take Sainsbury's out," the sector veteran said.

☆ European shares rise on China reopening cheer, slow pace of rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SummarySummary Companies STOXX 600 up 0.1%Jan 11 (Reuters) - European shares edged up on Wednesday, lifted by Bayer and LVMH, while optimism over reopening in China and hopes of less aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes aided the sentiment. The pan-regional STOXX 600 (.STOXX) gained 0.1% by 0818 GMT. Signs of slowing wage inflation last week had boosted bets of a less aggressive tightening by the Fed and the European Central Bank. Energy stocks (.SXEP) advanced 1.0%, while miners (.SXPP) gained 1.7%, as commodity prices rose on optimism over top consumer China's reopening. Bayer (BAYGn.DE) rose 2.1% after Bloomberg reported that activist investor Bluebell is pushing for a breakup of the German pharmaceutical company.

☆ Britain's Sainsbury's raises profit sights after Christmas sales rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( James Davey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The UK's second largest supermarket chain after Tesco (TSCO.L) had previously forecast 2022-23 underlying pre-tax profit of between 630 million and 690 million pounds ($767-$840 million). It made 730 million pounds in 2021-22. Prior to the update analysts were on average forecasting 644 million pounds, according to a company compiled consensus. Grocery sales rose 5.6%, while general merchandise sales increased by a better-than-expected 4.6%. Sainsbury's owns the Argos general merchandise business.

☆ Sainsbury's sees shoppers spreading out cost of Christmas
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - British consumers are trying to spread out the cost of Christmas by buying products earlier as they try to manage household budgets in the face of record inflation, the boss of supermarket group Sainsbury's (SBRY.L), said on Thursday. "One of the key things that we're clearly seeing is customers wanting to spread out the cost of Christmas, shopping earlier where they can, buying little and often as they plan for Christmas," Chief Executive Simon Roberts told reporters after Sainsbury's published first half results. Roberts also highlighted a marked shift towards demand for own brand food products, which are generally cheaper than branded products. As regards general merchandise sales, he said the big step-up in Christmas sales that the group would normally see is still to come. "It's too early to see how demand in general merchandise is going to play out ... That's the big unknown," he said.

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