Sports Direct revenue rises as debt drops December 16, 2010 Sports Direct has reported an 8.3 per cent rise in revenue to £819.9m in the half-year. UK Retail revenues were up 9.9 per cent to £644.3m, in the figures which cover the period to 21 October Meanwhile international retail revenues were up 4.6 per cent to £66.5m. The group has reduced net debt by 25.1 [...]
Retail sales in strongest December growth for 8 years December 15, 2010 Retail sales are rising at their fastest pace in more than eight years as shoppers bring forward purchases before January’s increase in sales tax, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry showed. The CBI distributive trades survey’s December sales balance rose to +56 from +43 in November, the highest index level since April 2002. [...]
UK unemployment in unexpected rise December 15, 2010 Unemployment in the UK increased by 35,000 in the three months to October to 2.5m, according to official figures. It is the first time that the jobless measure has risen for six months. The increase pushed the unemployment rate up to 7.9 per cent, the figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. However, the [...]
Eurozone employment stable December 15, 2010 Eurozone employment was stable quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter, according to official figures from Eurostat. It had edged up by 0.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter. Howard Archer of Global Insight said: “The fact that Eurozone employment was only stable in the third quarter indicates that companies are still reluctant to take on [...]
RBS offloads China retail business December 15, 2010 DBS Group, Southeast Asia’s biggest lender, said it will take over British bank RBS’s retail and commercial business in three Chinese cities. “DBS Bank and RBS today entered into an agreement to transfer RBS’ retail and commercial banking customer base, business portfolios and related employees in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen to DBS China,” the Singapore [...]
Simon Property bids £3bn for mall owner CSC December 15, 2010 Simon Property Group, in a struggle for control over Capital Shopping Centres, has proposed a 425 pence per share offer valuing the British mall owner at about £3bn. The offer was at a seven percent premium to CSC’s closing price on Tuesday and a premium of 16 per cent to a separate deal in which [...]
Tesco and Carrefour in bidding war for Czech chain December 15, 2010 Europe’s largest retailer Carrefour and its largest British peer Tesco are among four bidders for the Zabka retail chain, according to Reuters sources. Zabka owner, Czech-based Penta Investments, might sign the deal, valued at no less than 300m euros (£255m), in 2010, the sources said. “There are four bidders left, two strategic (investors) and two [...]
City hiring on the up despite blip December 15, 2010 London’s financial services firms are still hiring more heavily than a year ago, even though available jobs in November dipped five per cent from October. Vacancies in November were up nine per cent from a year earlier, while the number of people looking for new jobs shot up by 22 per cent, an employment study [...]
SuperGroup sees profit soar by 69pc December 15, 2010 SuperGroup, which owns the Superdry fashion brand, posted a 69 per cent rise in first-half profit and said the early signs of Christmas trading were “very encouraging”. “The autumn/winter collection has been well received by our customers in the UK and overseas, and our owned and franchised retail expansion is progressing as planned,” the firm [...]
Moody’s puts Spain on downgrade alert December 15, 2010 Ratings agency Moody’s said it has put Spain on review for a possible downgrade because of its high funding needs, doubts over its banking sector and concerns surrounding regional finances. The euro extended the day’s losses on the announcement. Spain has been under intense scrutiny from international markets since Ireland was forced to take a [...]
