New Look gets Christmas cheer January 12, 2012 New Look, the value fashion retailer owned by private equity groups Apax and Permira, has reported a 3.6 per cent jump in sales over the festive period despite “challenging” trading conditions. The retailer said multi-channel shopping initiatives such as the launch of its “click and collect” service had helped boost its sales in the five [...]
Christmas lift strengthens Ocado shares January 12, 2012 OCADO’s shares enjoyed a 33 per cent lift yesterday after the online grocer said the absence of 2010’s snow and increased delivery slots helped boost sales by 23.8 per cent in the week before Christmas. The company, founded by three former Goldman Sachs bankers in 2000, reported gross sales of £59m in the four weeks [...]
A momentary triumph for Tim’s vans January 12, 2012 SO a glimmer of light for Ocado. We’ve long taken a sceptical view on the delivery firm, but its festive trading figures might just win it some breathing space, among all the other doom and gloom. Ocado — run by ex-Goldman banker Tim Steiner — lucked out by making two savvy decisions this winter. First, it [...]
Draghi: ECB halted bank credit crunch January 12, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank has mitigated a major credit crunch by pumping money into banks, according to its president Mario Draghi. Draghi said that the crunch would have been “much, much more serious” without ECB action last month to flood banks with €489bn in loans. Traders suspect that the loans contributed to demand at a [...]
Hints of Kazakh interest give a boost to UniCredit January 12, 2012 SHARES in UniCredit, the Italian bank in the throes of a massive rights issue, were boosted yesterday by suggestions that a Kazakhstan wealth fund had amassed a five per cent stake. Il Giornale newspaper said Samruk Kazyna had built up the disclosable holding but yesterday the fund said the report was inaccurate, without saying whether [...]
Hedgies ready for stand off on Greek debt pile January 12, 2012 HEDGE funds are positioning to profit from a plan to slash Greece’s towering debt pile as Athens enters final talks that could sway the country’s membership of the euro. York Capital, the $14bn fund part-owned by Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse, New York-listed Och Ziff , and $10bn-strong Marathon Asset Management are among those who [...]
More QE likely next month as rates are held January 12, 2012 EXTRA asset purchases are likely to be announced next month, economists believe, after interest rates and the quantitative purchase (QE2) scheme were both left unchanged yesterday by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The base rate still stands at the record low level of 0.5 per cent, whilst the latest £75bn of asset [...]
No change as ECB thinks inflation will fall this year January 12, 2012 INTEREST rates remained unchanged in the Eurozone yesterday as European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi reassured markets that he is on track to hit the inflation target of two per cent this year. “Inflation is likely to stay above two per cent for several months to come before declining to below two per cent,” [...]
Weak industry could make UK economy shrink January 12, 2012 BRITISH industrial production declined sharply in November, and economists fear it may have tipped the already slow economy into contraction in the final quarter of 2011. Production in the Eurozone also fell, declining by 0.1 per cent in November, led by falls of 9.4 per cent in Ireland and one per cent in Germany. The [...]
Centrica and SSE join gas bill price war January 12, 2012 THE ENERGY price war between the UK’s big six companies escalated yesterday as Centrica-owned British Gas cut its electricity tariff by five per cent and SSE announced a gas price reduction of 4.5 per cent. British Gas has now cut its electricity prices by five per cent with immediate effect, while Scottish and Southern Energy [...]
