Shoplifting surges during downturn January 6, 2010 RETAIL crime rose 10 per cent to £1.1bn last year, according to a report published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) today. The biggest share of this figure is shoplifting, which accounts for 94 per cent of all retail crime incidents and £462m in lost sales, said the BRC’s Retail Crime Survey 2009. The BRC [...]
DO THE M&S FIGURES SPELL RECOVERY? January 6, 2010 RICHARD HUNTER | HARGREAVES LANSDOWN “The news from the High Street remains positive with today’s contribution from M&S underlining the ongoing resilience of the consumer. However, the abolition of VAT relief along with almost inevitable pressure on consumer budgets later in the year will continue to weigh.” JONATHAN JACKSON | KILLIK & CO “M&S has [...]
CARE HOME MOGUL GETS BOOST FROM REALITY TV January 6, 2010 A REALITY television appearance is usually more of a kiss of death than a gateway of opportunity, but the case of Balhousie Care Group chairman Tony Banks has proved an exception to the rule. Banks became a household name last year when he travelled to Liverpool on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire programme and subsequently had [...]
Cadbury talks to Hershey to fend off Kraft January 6, 2010 CADBURY was last night locked in talks with Hershey in a bid to stave off Kraft’s hostile takeover attempt. The British confectionery giant is not only seeking a higher price than Kraft’s £10.5bn hostile offer, but also a merger partner that would let it have some say in a combined company, two sources familiar with [...]
New look for Cannon Street station set to stun the City January 6, 2010 NETWORK?Rail (NR) has revealed the new look of its revamped Cannon Street station in the heart of the City. The rail infrastructure operator and property developer Hines have released new artists’ impressions of their Cannon Place office development, which is due to open in 2011. The two groups are building an eight-storey, 400,000 sq ft [...]
Reed in talks to sell magazines January 6, 2010 PUBLISHING and events group Reed Elsevier is in advanced talks to sell some of its loss-making trade magazines and will close other titles during the first half of 2010, according to an internal memo. John Poulin, chief executive of Reed Business Information in the United States, told staff he expected to announce the sale of [...]
GMAC set to post $5bn loss January 6, 2010 BORROWERS unable to pay home loans have left car and home finance company GMAC Financial Services facing a fourth quarter loss of about $5bn (£3.12bn). GMAC, which has 15m customers worldwide, said yesterday the expected deficit would be due largely to charges related to its bid to write down or sell risky mortgage assets. The [...]
Bank to hold interest rates and QE steady January 6, 2010 NO CHANGE was the preferred course of action for CityA.M.’s shadow Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) this month as a majority of members voted for both interest rates and the current level of quantitative easing (QE) to be kept on hold. Seven members said the Bank of England’s MPC should wait to make any further changes [...]
CITY AM | SHADOW MPC January 6, 2010 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “The PMI services data show the UK grew in the fourth quarter and the money supply figures looked healthier than expected. QE needs to be stopped sooner rather than later but rates should stay put for now.” SIMON WARD | HENDERSON “Suspend QE and signal an intention to begin normalising [...]
Data boosts hopes that UK slump is over January 6, 2010 HOPES that the UK recession ended in the last quarter of 2009 were boosted yesterday by service sector data for December showing the strongest growth in new orders in over two years. The latest survey of purchasing managers in services companies, the so called “engine room of the UK economy”, showed activity edged up to [...]