Last month he joined the group board.He refuses to be fazed by the march of
Last month he joined the group board.He refuses to be fazed by the march of the supermarkets "At the end of the day their business is food retailing. They have to maintain modules modules denuncia the authority of their range in mainstream food retailing. There's a limit to how much else they can tackle."And he is relaxed about the inroads made by specialist sellers. Many shoppers are intimidated by specialist bookstores, he says. Smith's still has a role as seller modules of bestsellers and books as gifts - catering for the 65 per cent of the population who are not regular book buyers.Promotions can still modules generate spectacular response. In October Bamford offered denuncia a free paperback to shoppers spending more than pounds 20. No less than 200,000 customers took up the offer.But there remain many modules denuncia who see Bamford's efforts as denuncia denuncia mere tinkering.
According to John Richards, stores analyst with NatWest Securities: "The Smith's chain's problems are strategic and structural, not managerial Bamford is fighting a rearguard action. He will be deemed to have done well if he just stems the decline.". NETTING the TV rights to a large chunk of British league football gave BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster controlled by Rupert Murdoch, a rosy start to last week. BSkyB tied up the Endsleigh League - a hat-trick of divisions one, two and three - in a pounds 125m five-year deal, replicating its pounds 300m capture of the Premiership three years ago. From next season, even more fans will have to shell out for a satellite dish or cable TV subscription or pop down to the local Sky Sports pub. But BSkyB's ambition may yet be its undoing.
In a twist worthy of any FA Cup Final, the Office of Fair Trading shocked the market on Friday by re-opening an inquiry into Mr Murdoch's near stranglehold on pay TV.BSkyB's shares slumped 70p from a record high of 462p immediately after the announcement, following a relentless rise from around 270p since June. They rallied quickly, ending the day just 5.5p down at 428.5p, after the company dismissed complaints as nothing new.The OFT's move, however, strengthened the argument of some market pundits that the honeymoon may be over. "The company's valuation has built up on a clear run that has ignored a high level of regulatory risk and possible future competition," one media analyst said.BSkyB has been here before. In March, it signed a series of voluntary undertakings ending conditions that forced cable TV operators to take a "bundle" of Sky channels in order to qualify for price discounts.Independent channels had long complained that the arrangements prevented access to cable because of BSkyB's programming muscle, notably in sport and films. However, the company, run by no-nonsense New Zealander, Sam Chisholm, has proved adept at staying just on the right side of the rules.In May BSkyB signed 10-year programme deals with TeleWest and Nynex, the two biggest cable TV firms. Discounts and non-compete clauses attracted the wrath of the OFT, but the deals succeeded in scuppering a cable get- together aimed at outbidding BSkyB for events.The company was formed in 1990 through the merger of Mr Murdoch's Sky with British Satellite Broadcasting.