Tonight:
5°c
In Austin, Texas, last week, I was inhaling some purple vegetable concoction at the flagship Whole Foods store when news arrived that 7% of the company had been acquired by Ron Burkle — a name that in supermarket circles stands for cost-cutting and discounts.
Burkle, one of Bill Clinton's closest friends and business partners, made his billions buying, trimming and flipping supermarket chains. He promises to make Whole Foods more efficient. Its stock shot up 23%.
Founded in Austin in 1980, WF now has 278 stores in the US, Canada and most recently the UK. It symbolises the navel-gazing economic boom times just past, and its stock has dropped nearly 70% in 12 months.
Another private-equity investor, Leonard Green & Partners, is also circling, having bought a large chunk of recently issued preferred stock. Whole Foods is on its knees after scraping out a measly £1 million in net income in its latest fiscal quarter, despite sales of £1.2 billion.
So if you live or work in Camden, Clapham, Soho or Stoke Newington, where the company has branches of its Fresh & Wild arm, or Kensington, where there is a big Whole Foods, savour that granola. It may not last.
* Sir John Templeton, the great investor, died six months ago, but the administrators of his foundation are trying to reinstate Thrift Week, which existed in America from 1918 to 1966. The seven days were designated: Have a Bank Account Day, Invest Safely Day, Carry Life Insurance Day, Keep a Budget Day, Pay Bills Promptly Day, Own Your Home Day, and Share with Others Day. It vanished in the Sixties when no one would sponsor it. Come on HSBC? Citibank? Anyone?
* Bank of America yesterday announced new brands and logos for its businesses after buying Merrill Lynch. The combined corporate, commercial, investment banking and capital markets arms will be branded, wait for it, “Bank of America Merrill Lynch.” The combined wealth management business, “Merrill Lynch Wealth Management”, will keep Merrill's old bull logo as “an iconic symbol conveying the company's leadership and optimism”.
Er, hasn't this bull has just been slaughtered?
