Little Chef is being gobbled up January 24, 2017 Little Chef Owner Kout Food Group has confirmed that several companies have made bids for the classic motorway food restaurant. The group said in a statement: "Kout Food Group confirms that more than one corporation (including an international chain) has expressed interest in commencing operations within the Little Chef portfolio of over 70 sites. Read [...]
Dixons Carphone reports fifth consecutive Christmas of growth January 24, 2017 Dixons Carphone today reported its "fifth consecutive year of Christmas growth" and said it's on track to meet expectations with its full year profits. The figures Like-for-like revenue in the UK & Ireland was up six per cent in the 10 weeks to 7 January, while southern Europe saw a five per cent increase. The Nordics recorded [...]
Analysts react to Dixons Carphone’s Christmas trading update January 24, 2017 Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone has reported its fifth year of Christmas sales growth, but market reaction was muted, with the company's share price falling more than three per cent in morning trading. Alistair Davies, analyst at Investec, said it was likely that Dixons Carphone had increased market share and improved its margins. There were availability issues around [...]
Shares in Fever-Tree are sparkling as City analysts say the company has more room to grow January 24, 2017 Shares in posh tonic maker Fever-Tree shot up more than seven per cent in morning trading as the company's chief executive Tim Warrillow told City A.M. the brand is still “very early on” in its growth. The figures In a trading update the brand said its full-year like-for-like sales were expected to rise 75 per cent from the previous year, [...]
Why the UK is falling out of love with fashion: M&S, Debenhams and Ted Baker offer solutions to the high street clothing crisis January 24, 2017 In 2016, Britons were focused less on fashion, and more on enjoying themselves. We ate out and drank more, but spent less on clothes. In other words, we “shifted towards the experience economy”, according to Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics. “Since Brexit, the components within the economy holding up well have been consumer expenditure [...]
Cinema chain Odeon’s owner AMC reels in Nordic Cinemas Group in $929m deal January 23, 2017 The company which admits millions of popcorn-crunching cinema attendees at Odeon across the UK has snapped up Nordic Cinemas Group for close to $1bn. AMC Entertainment, which owns the UK movie theatre chain Odeon, paid $929m (£743m) in an all-cash deal to gain control of Nordic Cinemas Group, which has stakes in picture houses in seven [...]
And then there was one: Sports Direct splits from top brokers January 23, 2017 Sports Direct has split from three of its brokers, announcing today that Liberum Capital would be its sole broker from hereon. The controversial retailer's former collection of brokers was made up of City heavyweights Goldman Sachs, Citi and Haitong. Haitong and Citi are both neutral on the company's shares, while, last May, Goldman Sachs stopped recommending [...]
London’s live music scene perseveres as closures stalled for the first time in nearly a decade January 23, 2017 London's smaller music venues persevered in 2016 as the number of grassroots venues remained stable for the first year since 2007, new figures show. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who has worked to build the industry, called the news a “major step towards rebuilding London’s live music scene”. A new progress report shows London has lost 35 per cent of its [...]
Sainsbury’s chairman lambasted for using staff to revamp country home January 23, 2017 Sainsbury's chairman David Tyler has been taken to task by the company board for using a supermarket employee and supplier to help refurbish his country home in East Sussex. Tyler, who was appointed chairman in 2009, was given a warning by the board after an internal investigation found that a Sainsbury's employee and supplier helped in [...]
McDonald’s gives analysts something to chew on after reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings January 23, 2017 The world's largest burger chain reported its fourth-quarter earnings were better than analysts expected as US restaurant sales beat forecasts. The figures Global sales rose 2.7 per cent in the three months to 31 December and 3.8 per cent for the full year, which was the company's strongest annual global comparable sales growth since 2011. Total revenue fell for the tenth straight [...]