Sainsbury’s new boss Mike Coupe blames “perfect storm” for sales drop October 1, 2014 Sainsbury's new chief executive said that a “perfect storm” of effects had plunged sales further into the red in the second quarter as the supermarket retailer cut its full-year sales forecast and warned that it might review its dividend. In his first official trading update since taking over from Justin King in July, Mike [...]
Sainsbury’s needs to shore up the shop – Bottom Line October 1, 2014 In business, timing is everything, and retail moves faster than most businesses. Justin King, Sainsbury’s ex-kingpin, seems to have grasped this better than most when he sailed off into the sunset earlier this year, just as the storm clouds were gathering over the supermarket. Under King’s helm, Sainsbury’s reported a 2.1 per cent rise in [...]
Findel races to make first H1 profit in years October 1, 2014 Home shopping group Findel said yesterday it was on track to deliver its first half-year, pre-tax profit in six years thanks to a strong performance from its catalogue business Express Gifts. Its Kitbag business recently won the rights to run McLaren’s Formula 1 team online store.
UK finance watchdog launches probe into Tesco’s profit debacle October 1, 2014 Tesco was put under further pressure yesterday after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had launched a full investigation into the Tesco accounting scandal that had knocked £4bn off its market value. Britain’s biggest supermarket stunned the City after revealing last week that it had overstated first-half profits by £250m. The accounting error, which [...]
Walker Greenbank posts rise in pre-tax profits in three markets October 1, 2014 FURNITURE maker Walker Greenbank yesterday announced that its first-half, pre-tax profits rose from £2m to £2.3m on the back of strong performances in its three main markets – the UK, Europe and the US. In the UK, the firm’s main market, sales grew 10 per cent year-on-year, while they rose 12.2 per cent in constant [...]
100 Women in Hedge Funds: MPC new girl Kristin Forbes’s talk goes from Bard to verse October 1, 2014 Kristin Forbes, the American economist who became one of the Bank of England’s newbies this summer, could have been a breath of fresh air. She’s the first woman to serve on the bank’s rate-setting committee for five years – she could have really shaken things up. But alas, she’s toeing the party line… of shoehorning [...]
Julius Baer’s Next Generation Summit leaves CEO Boris Collardi feeling a bit horse October 1, 2014 Attendees of Julius Baer’s Next Generation Summit in The Crystal at Royal Victoria Docks yesterday were no doubt looking forward to seeing the wealth manager’s chief Boris Collardi give his welcome address. But it turned out to be no more than a welcome smile, because poor Collardi lost his voice. “He has to just sit [...]
HSBC’s Carole Plant joins 100 leading ladies October 1, 2014 Somerset House played host to some of the UK’s most successful women last night as photographer Nancy Honey launched her new portrait book, 100 Leading Ladies. The business world got more than a passing nod, with Coast chief Kate Bostock, former chief of Lloyds TSB Scotland Lady Susan Rice and HSBC’s Carole Plant. “I came [...]
Optimism in London …steady as we go or has it stalled? – Brand Index October 1, 2014 IN his speech to the Conservative conference in Birmingham this week, George Osborne stated: “Britain is the fastest-growing, most job-creating, most deficit-reducing advanced economy on earth.” Whether voters feel these statistics in their wallets will be a key issue for politicians in the weeks and months leading up to the general election on 7 May [...]
UBM dives over fears it overpaid for Advanstar October 1, 2014 COMMUNICATIONS and events group UBM will buy US trade show organiser Advanstar Communications for $972m (£599m), it announced yesterday, becoming the top events organiser by revenue in the US, but its shares fell on concern it had overpaid. UBM said it will fund the deal through a £563m rights issue, which also dampened market sentiment [...]