It’s not news, but health continues to be a major driver within the grocery sector.

Cutting prices of Christmas puddings, turkeys, sprouts, and mince pies helped Tesco pull a better-than-expected performance out of its shopping bag over the holiday period.

Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco Plc is pursuing the sale of a majority stake in its data-gathering arm Dunnhumby, rather than an outright exit or flotation, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters yesterday.

Pulsate, an innovative mobile marketing company founded by Dublin man Patrick Leddy, has secured funding from one of the giants of the global tech scene as part of a funding round led by Delta Partner’s Bank and Enterprise Ireland.

Tesco was dealt a new blow yesterday as Standard & Poor’s joined Moody’s Investors Service in cutting debt at the UK’s biggest grocer to below investment grade.