Asda sales ahead despite profit warning from owner Wal-mart August 14, 2014 ASDA is outperforming its leading supermarket rivals in the battle for customers’ loyalty after reporting a 0.5 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in the second quarter. The US-owned chain was the first of the big four to take action against the discounters by cutting its prices when it pledged in November to invest £1bn [...]
US shareholder increases stake in Carpetright to almost a fifth August 14, 2014 CARPETRIGHT investor Franklin Templeton Institutional has increased its stake in the troubled high street flooring specialist to almost 20 per cent. The US investment manager has upped its stake in the business from 10.9m to 13.4m shares, giving it a 19.79 per cent holding in the company, according to a regulatory filing published yesterday. The [...]
Dash! Trademark blues as Tesco’s Tevron dismissed as “devoid of any distinctive character” August 14, 2014 Tesco has lost its latest round with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). The supermarket giant was hoping to trademark the blue dashes underneath the word Tesco in its logo, but the powers that be deemed the marks (known by Tesco insiders as Tevrons, our spies tell us) were too simple to represent the brand on [...]
Iced-Berg? Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and fellow tech CEOs get soaked August 14, 2014 It's often been said that the Silicon Valley tech scene is overheating, but photos of its best known chief exec dumping buckets of ice water over themselves is nonetheless perplexing. On closer inspection, though, you realise its a new social media “nomination”, not completely dissimilar to the no-makeup selfie, in a bid to raise [...]
New Xbox and PS4 send sales soaring at Game August 14, 2014 GAME Digital, the high street video games retailer, revealed a strong set of sales during the past year in its first trading update as a public company yesterday, helped by high demand for the launch of new consoles from Microsoft and Sony. The group reported a 30 per cent bump in total sales during the [...]
Casinos strike it lucky for Rank as its profits are reduced by VAT fine August 14, 2014 MECCA bingo operator Rank Group saw revenues jump 13 per cent last year, boosted by the acquisition of 19 casinos from its rival Gala Coral. The new venues generated £107.2m lifting total revenues to £707.7m. Following a “challenging” first half of the year, Rank’s operating profit rose 21 per cent during the second half. However, [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of Game Digital’s full-year trading update? August 14, 2014 SIMON DAVIES | CANACCORD GENUITY The hoped-for improvement in cash flows following the IPO has come through more quickly than anticipated, which points to potentially more one-off returns of cash to shareholders. We see a strong pipeline of new game releases for 2015, supporting strong growth of next generation consoles expands. SANJAY VIDYARTHI | LIBERUM [...]
Cineworld lifted by Cinema City revenue growth August 14, 2014 CINEWORLD, the largest cinema operator in the UK, reported a 33 per cent bump in revenues during the first half of the year, after its £900m takeover of European chain Cinema City helped offset weaker UK ticket sales. The Lego Movie, The Wolf of Wall Street and Twelve Years a Slave helped UK revenues to [...]
7Digital agrees £1m deal with BlackBerry to keep the music August 14, 2014 Online music group 7Digital has signed a deal with struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry to provide music services for the group for the next year, just a month after its recently floated shares stumbled upon BlackBerry’s decision to close its music and video offerings. 7Digital’s share price halved in June after its largest customer announced it [...]
Smartphones soar at Lenovo August 14, 2014 LENOVO, the world’s largest PC maker, yesterday reported its profits jumped 23 per cent during the first quarter of 2014, beating estimates. Sales were buoyed by soaring smartphone shipments, which surpassed its overall PC deliveries for the first time. The Beijing-based company said profit surged to $214m (£128.3m) during the three months to 30 June. [...]