IS CARPHONE WAREHOUSE WEATHERING THE DOWNTURN? October 8, 2009 MIKE JEREMY DANIEL STEWART & COI think it was a very satisfying update, with surprisingly good broadband numbers. For TalkTalk to get 77,000 net adds is very strong in a maturing market, especially with the churn figure decreasing. It bodes well for the market share. IPTV?looks like a great opportunity for them, but they are [...]
Cameron lays out vision of Tory Britain October 8, 2009 DAVID Cameron upped the ante ahead of what is set to be a hard-fought election campaign yesterday, telling the Conservative party conference that he was ready to be Prime Minister. In a speech that sounded a more upbeat note than that of his shadow chancellor George Osborne on Tuesday, the Tory leader promised that he [...]
Hays set to appeal 30m OFT penalty October 8, 2009 RECRUITER Hays yesterday said it is has been hit by a £25m exceptional charge after being fined £30.4m by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The UK’s largest recruiter said that it planned to appeal the fine, which the OFT levied last month for its involvement in a price fixing activities over four years ago. [...]
Ted Baker smashes forecasts October 8, 2009 Designer brand Ted Baker said trading was exceeding its hopes and reaction to its autumn and winter ranges had been “encouraging”, as it posted a better than feared fall in first-half profit, sending its shares higher. Analysts upgraded pre-tax profit forecasts for the year to the end of January 2010 and finance director Lindsay Page [...]
Ladbrokes launches 275m cash call in a bid to relieve debt as revenues fall October 8, 2009 LADBROKES, the book maker, yesterday announced a fully underwritten £275m cash call to pay down its debt, as it revealed its revenue had fallen by 15 per cent in the third quarter due to “exceptionally low” margins on football and horsing bets. The betting firm, which has already had to withheld its interim payments to [...]
Sales jump at Halfords on bike lift October 8, 2009 THE boom in commuter cycling and stay-at-home holidaymakers yesterday boosted Halfords as it reported sales growth for the successive quarter. The bike, camping products and car maintenance retailer yesterday reported sales rose by 3.8 per cent in the 13 weeks to last Friday. And like-for-like sales made a 2.2 per cent jump, up from a [...]
Carluccio’s dines out as new openings lift profits October 8, 2009 ITALIAN restaurant and retail group, Carluccio’s, yesterday said it expected to deliver full-year underlying pre-tax profits slightly ahead of its expectations as it experienced good trading in the period. For the 52 weeks ended 27 September, the company – headed by chief executive Simon Kossoff – said its revenue grew eight per cent. Carluccio’s, which [...]
C&C cider sales fall as volumes weaken October 8, 2009 DRINKS group C&C, the maker of Magners cider, yesterday posted a fall in first-half sales and operating profit and said volumes had dipped at the end of the period. C&C said cider volumes were flat for the six months to the end of August but had slowed in the last month of the half-year and [...]
Amazon’s Kindle could annoy the publishing trade October 8, 2009 AT last, Amazon’s much-hyped Kindle is upon us, with a Europe-wide release date scheduled for 19 October. For anyone who doubts just how big e-books are going to be, consider this: the Kindle version of Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol, is outselling the hardcover edition on Amazon. Earlier this week, Forrester Research upped [...]
JP Morgan AM puts Thompson in top UK job October 8, 2009 JP MORGAN Asset Management, the two-century old fund manager, has appointed Roger Thompson as head of its UK arm. Thompson has been at the firm for 16 years and is moving up to the top job after serving as chief financial officer of its international business since 2003. A former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor, who is also [...]