Primark props up AB Foods as sugar slumps January 16, 2014 ASSOCIATED British Foods said yesterday sales at its Primark discount fashion chain were strong over Christmas after being dampened by unseasonably warm autumn weather, helping offset a weaker-than-expected performance at its sugar unit. AB Foods said group revenue was flat for the 16 weeks to 4 January, compared with nine per cent growth for the [...]
Owner of Currys and PC World enjoys record Boxing Day sales January 16, 2014 DIXONS Retail emerged as one of the winners in the battle for consumers’ attention this Christmas as booming tablet sales and demand for kitchenware and large televisions helped drive sales. The owner of Currys and PC World said like-for-like sales in the UK & Ireland jumped five per cent in the period from 1 November [...]
N Brown cheers revenue rise January 16, 2014 Home-shopping group N Brown, which targets older and larger shoppers, said yesterday it would step up investment in international expansion after enjoying strong Christmas trading boosted by online sales. The group posted like-for-like revenue during the six-week festive period up 7.2 per cent, with online sales accounting for over half of overall revenue, helped by [...]
Thorntons to meet expectations January 16, 2014 Chocolate maker Thorntons said yesterday its outlook for the financial year was in line with market expectations, after it reported a 6.3 per cent rise in sales to £93.1m for the 14 weeks to 11 January. The firm said a good Christmas performance had helped boost sales of its own-brand chocolates through supermarkets, with sales [...]
Games Workshop takes a tumble January 16, 2014 Shares in Games Workshop Group lost almost a quarter of their value yesterday after the games retailer reported a drop in both revenues and profits for the first half of the year. The firm, which makes miniature soldier sets, reported revenues of £60.5m in the six months to 1 December 2013, down 10.4 per cent [...]
Experian picks chief exec as its new chairman January 16, 2014 EXPERIAN’S chief executive is stepping into the chairman’s role from July, the firm announced yesterday, eight months after hiring headhunters to search for a new chair. The credit checking and data services group said Don Robert will leave the chief exec post to replace Sir John Peace, who said last May that he planned to [...]
Aberdeen dealt blow by shifting sentiment to emerging stocks January 16, 2014 EUROPE’S largest fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management suffered outflows last quarter as investors lost appetite for emerging market and Asian stocks. Customers pulled £6bn from across its funds in the three months ending December leading to net outflows of £4.4bn. Around 70 per cent of the outflows came from equity funds. It follows a pullback [...]
Regulators warn on extravagant hospitality for financial advisers January 16, 2014 THE CITY watchdog yesterday announced guidelines to stop fund providers taking financial advisers to luxury hospitality events over fears it could undermine new rules. In guidelines published yesterday, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said advisers and providers should make sure hospitality is not “extravagant” and ultimately improve the end service offered to retail investors. “Now it [...]
High Court rules Google privacy case set for UK January 16, 2014 GOOGLE is accountable under UK privacy laws the High Court ruled yesterday, opening the company up to a lawsuit from British users who allege that Google tracked browsing without their knowledge. The search giant had argued that claimants should have launched their case in the US where Google is based, but yesterday this was rejected. [...]
Intel expects flat sales in 2014 as ailing PC market stabilises January 16, 2014 INTEL last night missed analysts’ expectations as the chipmaker said it expects growth to be flat in 2014 as the PC market stabilises at around 300m units annually. The company reported fourth quarter revenue of $13.8bn (£8.43bn) that was flat compared to the same period of 2012, but above analysts expected $13.72bn. Intel said the [...]