Today’s and Nisa ‘set to part company by early next year’ | TalkingRetail.com

The Today’s Group will split from Nisa by January next year if its wholesaler members give the go-ahead to proposals to turn it into a standalone business. A consultation process kicked off at the group’s Stoneleigh trade show earlier this month (April), reports the latest edition of Independent Retail News.

Nisa-Today’s chief executive Neil Turton told Independent Retail News a decision was likely by the summer. “It’s looking like a popular idea,” he said. “But there’s a lot of work still to be done; it’s not a done deal. If we do de-merge, it will be January next year.”

He said the idea to split the company had come from some of its major wholesale members, who felt the group was“very retail-centric and didn’t focus on Today’s issues as much as it ought.”

It was likely the Today’s Group would become a member company of Nisa, he added, with its own board of directors that could give 100% focus to wholesale issues.

Mark Pullen, non-executive chairman of Nisa-Today’s, said: “The plan at the moment is there will be a formal vote, but it’s very early days. I suspect what’s going to happen is it will become fairly obvious there’s one direction of travel. It wouldn’t have got this far if it didn’t seem the pressure was there to do it.”

Turton also revealed Nisa would be embarking on two new bursts of TV advertising for its Nisa Local stores later this year, following the success of its first-ever TV campaign at the start of 2011.

Symbol group director John Heagney said there would probably be a four-week campaign starting in late summer, followed by a six-week burst launching just after Christmas.

The symbol group has now reached 790 stores, with 500 under its new Store of the Future Format. Turnover through Nisa Central Distribution is about£400m a year. Heagney said the group aimed to get to 1,050 stores by March 2013.

The Today’s Group is also growing its symbol offering – under the Today’s Local, Today’s Extra, Today’s Express and Today’s Local Drinks fascias – which is available to cash and carry customers of 17 of its leading wholesale members. It now has 235 stores, having added 45 over the past 12 months.
The Today’s retail club has grown too, from just under 1,000 members to more than 1,200 in the first three months of 2011.

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