Housing market may finally be cooling down May 8, 2014 THE RECENT upswing in housing market activity may be moderating, with an early indication from one bank that growth in house prices could be reaching a plateau. House prices increased by 8.5 per cent in the 12 months to April, according to Halifax – slower than the 8.7 per cent increase in the year to [...]
Bottom Line: Barclays is moving to the post-crisis age May 8, 2014 BARCLAYS came through the 2007-08 global financial crisis in relatively good shape, tapping up investors across the world to stay afloat rather than sinking like RBS or Lloyds. But there was no way it could keep on playing as it did in the boom years – weak markets hit profits and investors became more aware [...]
Bank holds policy again ahead of inflation report this month May 8, 2014 THE BANK of England’s policymakers voted to hold interest rates at 0.5 per cent for another month yesterday, with next week’s inflation report more likely to offer signals of the future direction of policy. If the Bank plans to make any updates to its modified forward guidance policy, the report is likely to contain them, along [...]
Morrisons insists its price cuts will win back custom May 8, 2014 MORRISONS chief executive Dalton Philips insisted yesterday that its price-cutting plan will win over customers defecting to discount rivals despite the decline in like-for-like sales worsening in the first quarter of the year. Total sales excluding fuel fell 4.2 per cent in the 13 weeks to 4 May while like-for-like sales slumped 7.1 per cent, [...]
Analyst Views: What did you think of Morrisons’ first quarter performance? May 8, 2014 DAVE MCCARTHY | HSBC A seven per cent like-for-like decline is as bad a statement as we can recall. Morrisons is suffering from its own specific problems and from structural issues…If like-for-like sales do not improve soon, we could be facing another profit warning or downgrade. Things could get worse. MIKE DENNIS | CANTOR FITZGERALD [...]
Poundland’s sales near £1bn May 8, 2014 CASH conscious shoppers continued to flock to Poundland for bargain buys last year, boosting the discount retailer’s sales to just under £1bn. The chain, which has benefited from the polarisation in spending in the market, opened a net 70 stores in the year to 30 March, helping to deliver £998m revenues, up 13.3 per cent [...]
BT lifts dividend as £2bn TV sport move pays off May 8, 2014 DEMAND for fibre broadband and television, driven by BT’s aggressive £2bn investment in sports content, led the telecoms giant to beat expectations in its full-year results yesterday and hike its dividend by 15 per cent to 10.9p. Chief executive Gavin Patterson promised BT would continue with its strategy of buying premium sports TV rights and [...]
Inside Track: The City’s broking shake-up continues with Oriel sale May 8, 2014 WHEN the founders of Oriel Securities debated a name for the research and stockbroking firm in 2002 they couldn’t initially come to an agreement. Simon Bragg, now chief executive, suggested it should be called Oriel because three of the six had been to the Oxford college of the same name. Now, 12 years later, the [...]
Channel 4 falls to a £15m loss May 8, 2014 BROADCASTER Channel 4 has reported its second annual loss in a row, revealing a £15m annual deficit while revenues were flat at £846m last year. Channel 4, which is ad-funded but not-for-profit, saw its total share of TV audience across all its channels fall slightly to 11 per cent from 11.5 per cent in 2011, [...]
Liberty takes All3 for $550m May 8, 2014 LIBERTY Global, the US cable group that bought Virgin Media last year, has jointly acquired UK-based TV producer All3Media with Discovery Communications for £550m. All3Media produces shows such as Skins, Hollyoaks, and Midsomer Murders and had revenue of around £505m in the financial year ending August 2013. Discovery and Liberty Global said they would each [...]
