Jessops woes back in focus May 27, 2009 PHOTOGRAPHIC retailer Jessops yesterday saw its stock plunge 63 per cent after shareholders were warned they would probably end up with nothing, as the company battles falling sales and its debt pile. The company reported half-year pre-tax losses of £6.3m for the six months to 31 March, while like-for-like sales were down 4.4 per cent. [...]
MOVING FROM ONLINE TO LIVE POKER TOP TIPS May 27, 2009 &9679; If you’ve learned your poker by playing online, stepping into a card room for the first time can be daunting. The first thing to adjust to is the pace of the game – things happen much more slowly, but this gives you more opportunity to gather information. &9679; Watch like a hawk. In online [...]
Howard’s way wasn’t good enough for Sir Alan May 27, 2009 PICTURE the scene: Sir Alan, curtains drawn, feet up, one hand in a family pack of Monster Munch, the other flicking between home shopping channels, looking for a pair of diamonique earrings for his good lady wife. Yes, this week, he got his teams time on some sub-QVC teleshopping channel, shifting tomorrow’s charity shop donations [...]
IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR JESSOPS AFTER THE STOCK NOSEDIVE? May 27, 2009 KEITH BOWMAN HARGREAVES LANSDOWN“It’s a difficult place to be and the group’s £60m debt position has made life particularly difficult for it. Competition from online retailers has also dented the group’s trading. Yesterday’s comments from the board on the value of shares obviously provoked aggressive action from shareholders.” NICK BUBB PALI INTERNATIONAL“The group has suffered [...]
Value lines lift Northern Food’s sales May 27, 2009 A SURGE in demand for value lines helped Northern Foods beat market expectations for full year sales yesterday. But the group’s pre-tax profit still fell 5.4 per cent to £47.5m from £50.1m the year before due to restructuring costs. And it warned on future trading due to the rising price of ingredients and pressure from [...]
Fashion turns to fury as Versace chief exec walks May 27, 2009 VERSACE chief executive Giancarlo di Risio will soon leave the Italian luxury firm after a series of boardroom clashes. Earlier this week the group denied a feud between creative director Donatella Versace and di Risio. Di Risio was hired in 2004 by Versace, which is owned by Donatella, her brother Santo and her daughter Allegra. [...]
ANZ favourite in race for RBS Asia operations May 27, 2009 AUSTRALIA and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) moved into pole position to clinch a deal for Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) Asian assets after rival bidders HSBC and Standard Chartered failed to come up with firm bids. ANZ said it had submitted a non-binding bid for the assets and is raising up to A$2.85bn (£1.38bn) [...]
Old Mutual in China U-turn May 27, 2009 INSURER Old Mutual pulled out of buying a 49 per cent stake in China’s ABN Amro Teda Fund Management yesterday as part of a drive to streamline its businesses. Old Mutual, South Africa’s largest insurer, said in March it would scale back its expansion in Asia following a review of the company instigated by chief [...]
Ombudsman registers jump in insurance firm complaints May 27, 2009 COMPLAINTS about insurance companies rose by 84 per cent last year as firms tightened their belts during the economic crisis, sometimes at the expense of customer services. A Financial Ombudsman Service report, published yesterday, says it handled a record 127,471 new disputes about firms in all sectors over the last year and a staggering 789,877 [...]
NYSE Euronext gets go ahead for derivatives clearing house May 27, 2009 NYSE EURONEXT has received approval from the FSA to launch NYSE Liffe Clearing, a clearing house for its London derivatives market. NYSE Liffe Clearing is due to launch on 27 July, subject to a period of review, as a new division of NYSE Liffe. “The new clearing arrangements will enable us for the first time [...]