RBS hires advisers to prepare 300 of its outlets for sale January 10, 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has appointed UBS to advise on the sale of more than 300 branches, which is expected to attract a flurry of interest. A teaser document, detailing the branches included in the sale, was circulated at the end of 2009. Potential bidders include National Australia Bank, which owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire [...]
Outlook continues to present challenges for retail January 10, 2010 In a bout of not-particularly-investigative journalism, I set Tesco a mystery shopper challenge last week, ordering a hefty shop be delivered to my home just as the heaviest snow was due to fall. Right on time two cheerful chaps showed up without even a word of complaint about the weather. Impressive. We’ll have to wait [...]
Tesco in line for sales hike January 10, 2010 TESCO is being tipped for a like-for-like sales hike of up to four per cent when it issues its trading update tomorrow. The figures are expected to reflect a healthy seasonal boost as customers splashed out over the holiday. Analysts predict that the supermarket chain’s doubling of Clubcard points over the period would help to [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW DO YOU EXPECT TESCO TO HAVE PERFORMED THIS TIME? January 10, 2010 JONATHAN PRITCHARD | ORIEL SECURITIES I see the figures being as much as four per cent up on last year. The Clubcard doubling of points has made a big difference and I cannot see any reason why the figures should not follow the trend of Sainsbury’s and be significantly up. KEITH BOWMAN | HARGREAVES LANSDOWN [...]
THE TIPSTER January 10, 2010 THERE’S been no shortage of news regarding the increased demand for natural gas by UK consumers as the cold snap continues to grip the country. As a result, BG Group (formerly British Gas) has got the year off to a cracking start, outperforming the FTSE-100 by over 100 per cent. But the cold (hopefully) won’t [...]
Miners push FTSE higher but M&S weighs on retail shares January 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares added 0.1 percent yesterday as a rally by heavyweight miners, in tandem with stronger metal prices, offset weakness in energy issues, with retailers upset by a disappointing update from M&S. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 7.54 points higher at 5,530.04, another 16-month closing high. “It looks like the big [...]
Barclay brothers buy DHL parcels unit January 6, 2010 SIR David and Sir Frederick Barclay started the year with a major acquisition for their home delivery business. They snapped up DHL’s parcels business for an undisclosed sum to merge with their Home Delivery Network (HDN). The deal will vastly increase the scale of HDN, doubling its turnover from £300m to £600m. Briant Gaunt, chief [...]
Asda ramps up supermarket price war January 5, 2010 ASDA yesterday upped the ante in the supermarket wars by announcing its biggest round of price cuts in a decade. The supermarket said it was slashing the price of one in five of its products by an average of 13 per cent. The move comes after Tesco last week promised customer savings of more than [...]
Vodafone gives details of its £35 a month iPhone offering December 21, 2009 VODAFONE will make its move in to the iPhone market on 14 January, becoming the fourth UK network to sell the sought-after handset. It will offer customers a free handset for £35 a month on a two-year contract. Vodafone joins Orange, Tesco and O2, which had the original exclusive deal with Apple for the handset’s [...]
ATM Christmas is on the cards December 21, 2009 Wednesday 23 December will be the busiest day on record for cash purchases, according to research, suggesting consumers are shunning credit cards for banknotes. Figures compiled by Tesco Bank indicate cash machine withdrawals so far in December have outstripped 2008’s numbers. The trend is expected to peak on Wednesday, when ATMs are predicted to handle [...]