bbc_business

Sainsbury's agrees to sell Argos for £120m

📰 source: bbc_business · 💼 business

sainsbury's has agreed to sell argos for £120m, a move to focus on its core food business. the supermarket chain said it would be "business as usual" for customers, staff, and suppliers, with argos continuing to operate inside sainsbury's shops, sell habitat products, and offer nectar points.

buyer swift partners is a newly created company led by former co-operative group boss richard pennycook. there are 667 argos shops across the uk, 201 standalone and 466 inside sainsbury's, plus more than 450 collection points. pennycook said he believed strongly in argos's future and saw real opportunities to invest. the deal is expected to close in february next year.

sainsbury's paid £1.4bn for argos and other home retail group brands in 2016. analyst clive black called the sale attempt challenging and prolonged, saying argos had been a suboptimal performer financially. in sainsbury's latest quarterly results, group sales rose 3.1% but argos sales dipped 0.5%.

why it matters: sainsbury's sells argos for £120m, a fraction of the £1.4bn paid in 2016, as it refocuses on food retail.

source: bbc_business
sentiment: +0.00 · impact: 0.40

Surprise fall in US jobs last month as slow summer continues

📰 source: bbc_business · 💼 business us jobs fell by 23,000 last month, against forecasts for an 80,000 gain, with the bureau of labor statistics also revising down may and june payrolls by a combined 103,000. the unemployment rate still dipped to 4.1% from 4.2%, as labor

Homes are selling below asking in 38 of the 50 biggest U.S. cities—if you can afford one

📰 source: cnbc_topnews · 💼 business homes sold for less than their asking price in 38 of the 50 largest u.s. housing markets in june, per redfin. the biggest discounts hit florida and texas: miami and west palm beach averaged nearly 5% below asking, while houston, austin, tampa, dallas, san antonio,

China is gaining ground in AI. But the U.S. still has a major advantage

📰 source: cnbc_topnews · 💼 business hugging face ceo clément delangue told cnbc china is clearly dominating on open models and could start dominating at the frontier by end of this year or next. chinese models are closing the gap with u.s. frontier systems despite limited access to cutting-edge compute. beijing-based

US strikes $1.2bn deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

📰 source: bbc_business · 💼 business rwe will abandon its offshore wind projects in the us after accepting a $1.2bn payout from the department of the interior. the german energy firm said it will reinvest the money into gas projects, including $900m for an lng export terminal in louisiana. rwe will

Read more

Surprise fall in US jobs last month as slow summer continues

Homes are selling below asking in 38 of the 50 biggest U.S. cities—if you can afford one

China is gaining ground in AI. But the U.S. still has a major advantage

US strikes $1.2bn deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects