Analyst Views: What was your reaction to Taylor Wimpey’s half year trading update? July 7, 2014 ANTHONY CODLING | JEFFERIES At half time, there is no nervousness or need for a strong pep talk from team boss Redfern. His players are following the set game plan and leaving little to chance, having set the bar high with respect to value vs volume, they have left Persimmon with a lot to do [...]
Marks & Spencer is preparing to defend clothing to shareholders July 7, 2014 Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland is expected mount a vigorous defence of his turnaround strategy today and insist that its clothing arm is on the mend, despite analysts expecting another fall in general merchandise sales. The retailer is likely to face a grilling from shareholders attending the annual general meeting at Wembley stadium over [...]
Clipstone IPO to raise £150m July 7, 2014 A LOGISTICS real estate investment trust is seeking to raise an initial £150m in a listing on the London Stock Exchange as it looks to tap into the boom in UK online retailing. Clipstone Logistics Reit confirmed yesterday that £72m of properties would be acquired upon admission, of which the majority were warehouses let to [...]
Segro sells £66m Brussels office park to US investment firm Ares July 7, 2014 Segro said yesterday that it had exchanged contracts to sell Pegasus business park in Brussels for €83.4m (£66.2m) as part of its strategy to scale back its exposure to regional offices. The FTSE 250-listed office and warehouse developer said funds managed by the US investment firm Ares Management had snapped up the business park, which [...]
Conservatives plan tougher laws to curb public sector strike action July 7, 2014 CONSERVATIVE ministers are drawing up plans to make it tougher for public sector unions to take industrial action, as more than a million council workers, teachers, civil servants and firefighters prepare to take action this week. Cabinet office minister Francis Maude yesterday said they were exploring a “minimum turnout threshold”, where only strikes backed by [...]
Top Mothercare investors back rejection of Destination Maternity bid July 7, 2014 Two major shareholders in Mothercare have thrown their weight behind the baby products chain after it rebuffed a £270m takeover from US firm Destination Maternity last week. Fidelity – Mothercare’s second largest shareholder with a 12 per cent stake – and Allianz, which owns around four per cent have both spoken out against bid, describing [...]
Jobs at risk in Asda shake-up July 3, 2014 ASDA announced a huge shake-up of its management structure yesterday that was likely to lead to 1,360 redundancies. The cuts are being made to help create more flexible management structures across Asda’s 578 UK stores and follow proposals laid out last May when it initially said 2,600 jobs were at risk. Chief executive Andy Clarke [...]
Toblerone and Red Bull a hit for Poundland in Spanish Dealz shop July 3, 2014 Poundland chief executive Jim McCarthy said yesterday its Dealz chain “could be bigger” in Europe than its sister chain in the UK, after kicking off its expansion by opening its first store in Spain on Wednesday. The company, which reported a 23.5 per cent jump in annual profits yesterday, said 2,700 people came [...]
Thorntons share price rise tastes sweet as chocolatier says it will meet earning targets July 3, 2014 Thorntons said yesterday its commercial arm selling chocolates to supermarkets returned to “double-digit” growth in the fourth quarter, making it confident of meeting full-year profit targets. The London-listed chocolatier expects pre-tax profits to leap 51 per cent to £7.1m for the year to 28 June compared with £4.7m a year earlier. Shares rose 8.4 per [...]
Dairy Crest and Fonterra on the whey to China baby formula deal July 3, 2014 Cathedral City cheese maker Dairy Crest said yesterday it had struck a deal with New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra to tap into the £7bn Chinese baby formula market. The five-year deal will see Fonterra sell Dairy Crest’s whey – the key ingredient in baby formula and a by-product of cheese making – to fast growing [...]
