Ocado delivers a profit but sales growth slowing July 1, 2014 Shares in Ocado slid 4.3 per cent yesterday despite the online grocer moving into the black in the first half, paving the way for its first annual profit in its 13-year history. The company said pre-tax profits totalled £7.5m for the 24 weeks to 18 May, following a £3.8m loss last year, thanks [...]
Bottom Line: Ocado thinks above and beyond Morrisons July 1, 2014 Ocado has understandably been coy over the last year about its plans beyond its tie-up with Morrisons. Running the supermarket’s online groceries business was a leap into the unknown and both companies needed time to bed down. The challenging part was copying the online platform it used to run its own grocery business and creating [...]
Greggs share price rises as baker shifts to more food-on-the-go July 1, 2014 Shares in bakery chain Greggs jumped 3.8 per cent yesterday after the company said it was expecting a forecast-beating 48 per cent surge in first-half profits, driven by its turnaround plan. Under chief executive Roger Whiteside, who joined last year, the company has been shifting away from its roots in the dwindling bread business and [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of Greggs’ first-half pre-close statement? July 1, 2014 MARK HODGES | EDISON INVESTMENT RESEARCH We had an encouraging interim statement from Greggs. Sales comparables strengthened in the second half, but the company continues to expect to make solid progress, and the risk of further cost inflation is reducing. We continue to like the stock and have a fair value of 597p. DARREN SHIRLEY [...]
City to debate Salesforce renaming of Heron Tower June 30, 2014 The row over the renaming of the tallest building in the City to Salesforce Tower took another turn yesterday after the City of London agreed to hold a public meeting to decide whether permission should be granted. The owners of the Heron Tower at 110 Bishopsgate announced in May that it would be known as [...]
Marks & Spencer reshuffles the pack to bring together website and buildings June 30, 2014 British retailer Marks & Spencer yesterday announced that it would increase the responsibilities of the five key executives under chief executive Marc Bolland as part of a restructuring of its management team aimed at driving greater accountability. As part of the reshuffle, M&S announced that its international director Jan Heere had quit and that [...]
Pensions body opposes Sports Direct pay plan June 30, 2014 SPORTS Direct faced further calls yesterday to withdraw its proposed bonus scheme to reward its founder Mike Ashley, ahead of a planned shareholder meeting tomorrow. Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) said it had urged its members to vote against the 2015 bonus share scheme, joining similar calls from the Association of British Insurers and [...]
Carphone Warehouse sells Virgin Mobile France to Numericable June 30, 2014 Carphone Warehouse and Richard Branson’s Virgin Group confirmed yesterday that they had agreed to sell Virgin Mobile France, the country’s largest mobile network operator, to rival Numericable for €325m (£260m). The mobile phones giant owns 46 per cent of Virgin Mobile France’s holding company Omer Telecom, while Virgin Group owns 46 per cent. The rest [...]
Aldi and Lidl to grab more sales from supermarket stores June 30, 2014 The amount of money spent at Britain’s larger supermarket stores is set to shrink over the next five years, new figures show, as competition from discounters, convenience stores and online gathers pace. According to research released yesterday by the industry body IGD, the value of the UK grocery market is set to rise by 16 [...]
Merlin to open Legoland in Japan June 30, 2014 MERLIN Entertainments, owner of Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds, announced yesterday it planned to tap into the world’s second-largest theme park market by building a £185m Legoland site in Japan. The company, which floated last year, said it would invest £53m of cash into the Nagoya theme park. The remainder will be funded by Kirkbi, [...]
