Greggs hopes special offers will reverse its slowing sales March 14, 2012 GREGGS said it has introduced extra promotions and discounts in its worst performing regions to entice cash-strapped customers, as sales slowed in the first weeks of the year. Chief executive Ken McMeikan said the 1.8 per cent fall in like for like sales in the first 10 weeks of 2012 reflected a four per cent [...]
Another firm looks to Asia for growth March 14, 2012 IT’S an increasingly familiar story. A UK firm, starved of revenue at home, looks east to expand, hoping the growing middle classes in India and China will pick up where the British “squeezed middle” have dropped out. French Connection’s position at the more expensive end of the high street means it may be able to [...]
RED-HOT GROWTH COOLS FOR HUGO BOSS March 14, 2012 HUGO Boss said sales growth would halve this year, cooled by a likely slowdown in red-hot Chinese demand for designer labels. The German fashion house, controlled by private equity house Permira, also announced plans to convert all its preference shares into ordinary shares, rekindling speculation that the buyout firm could seek an exit soon. In [...]
Weak factory data fuels fear of recession March 14, 2012 EVERY major EU economy except Germany’s saw industrial production fall in the year to January, official figures showed yesterday. The data reflects output from factories, as well as other industrial activities such as mining. Output fell 1.2 per cent in the 12-month period in the Eurozone and one per cent in the EU as a [...]
Economic growth slows across major economies March 14, 2012 GROWTH declined in the final quarter of 2011 across most of the world’s 20 biggest economies, according to research published yesterday. Aggregate GDP growth slowed to 0.7 per cent, following a 0.9 per cent expansion in the previous three month period and taking growth for the year as a whole to 2.8 per cent. That [...]
Fed boss plays down US GDP growth spurt March 14, 2012 THE US ECONOMIC recovery has been “frustratingly slow,” despite recent indications that growth was returning, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke (pictured) said yesterday, as the US’s trade position deteriorated. New data showed the current account deficit expanded unexpectedly in the final quarter of last year, hitting $124.1bn (£79.2bn) as exports dropped and imports rose. The deteriorating [...]
Haldane: Better data could stop next Lehmans March 14, 2012 A CONFUSING array of different languages used in financial communications increases risks and damages competition, a top Bank of England official said yesterday. The Bank’s director for financial stability, Andy Haldane, said a global tagging system for trades would make markets safer and improve risk assessment – an area of confusion which worsened the Lehman [...]
EUROZONE INFLATION PICKS UP March 14, 2012 INFLATION in the Eurozone rose from 2.4 per cent in the year to February 2011 to 2.7 per cent a year later, Eurostat figures showed yesterday. Price rises accelerated in France, from 1.8 per cent to 2.5 per cent, Italy, from 2.1 per cent to 3.4 per cent, and Germany from 2.2 per cent to [...]
£570m offer puts GlobeOp fight in a spin March 14, 2012 THE TAKEOVER battle for hedge fund administrator GlobeOp was on a knife-edge last night after SS&C Technologies trumped a rival offer from private equity firm TPG Capital. American financial software firm SS&C’s 485p-a-share cash deal, valuing GlobeOp at £572m, has won backing from the independent directors after beating the 435p cash offer TPG had agreed [...]
Bain bites back against critics March 14, 2012 BAIN Capital, the private equity house co-founded by Mitt Romney, has moved to defend its record of investments after months of being criticised as a “corporate raider”. The firm wrote to investors after Romney’s former position at the helm took on a high-profile role in the race for the Republican nomination for US president. Bain said it [...]
