WH Smith in earnings rise but sales fall October 13, 2011 WH Smith yesterday reported a 4.5 per cent rise in annual profits, with cost cutting helping to offset a fall in sales. The newspapers, books and stationery retailer made a pre-tax profit of £93m in the year to 31 August, compared with £89m a year earlier. But like-for-like sales at stores open more than a [...]
Ladbrokes boosted by machine bets October 13, 2011 LADBROKES reported an increase in third-quarter underlying operating profit yesterday as a sharp rise in winnings from gambling machines offset a decline in bets placed over the counter at its shops. The UK’s second-biggest bookmaker, which on Monday pulled out of talks to buy online rival Sportingbet, made an operating profit of £49.7m in the [...]
Carrefour issues its fourth 2011 profits warning October 13, 2011 FRENCH retailer Carrefour yesterday issued its fourth profit warning in as many months. The French group, battling to reverse years of underperformance in its main western European markets, said it expected 2011 operating profits to fall by up to 20 per cent, compared with about 15 per cent previously. Meanwhile the world’s second-biggest retailer said [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN WH SMITH CONTINUE TO PROFIT AS ITS SALES FALL? October 13, 2011 MATTHEW MCEACHRAN | SINGER CAPITAL MARKETS The company’s defensive, low-ticket product offering is proving resilient and the fact that the strategy remains strongly focused on cost and margin management as a driver of the bottom line is also useful. KEITH BOWMAN | HARGREAVES LASNDOWN On the downside, accompanying management comments have again expressed caution. But [...]
Poundland reports record year October 13, 2011 Poundland, Europe’s biggest single price discount retailer, posted a record year of sales and profit as it continued to prosper in the economic downturn. The firm, which trades from over 360 UK stores, said yesterday underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased 34 per cent to £31.7m in the year to 27 March. [...]
Booker profits jump by a quarter October 13, 2011 Britain’s biggest cash and carry wholesaler Booker posted a 22 per cent rise in first-half profit and said a wider product range, reduced prices and improved customer service would help it cope in a tough economic backdrop. Booker made pre-tax profits of £45m in the 24 weeks to 9 September, up from £36.9m in the [...]
Liberty sees sales increase October 13, 2011 Department store Liberty has reported a hike in sales for the first half of the year as it revealed plans for a store revamp. The London-based store’s revenue jumped 16 per cent for the six months to 31 July. Owner and chairman Marco Capello said: “These extremely positive results have given us even more confidence [...]
AOL boss still hopeful of a Yahoo merger October 13, 2011 AOL boss Tim Armstrong (pictured) has held meetings with shareholders over the potential benefits of a merger with struggling internet giant Yahoo. Armstrong is keen to keep the potential deal on the table despite Yahoo appearing to cool on it. Supporters of the merger say it could wring out up to $1.5bn (£960m) in savings. [...]
BlackBerry users see their handsets crawl back to life October 13, 2011 BLACKBERRY users across the world saw their services crawl to life yesterday after three days of outages. After facing criticism for failing to address users, many of whom had no access to data services, co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis profusely apologised for his company’s failures on the company’s web-site and on YouTube. “I apologise for the [...]
City gets free wi-fi extension October 13, 2011 THE CLOUD, the free public wi-fi provider snapped up by BSkyB earlier this year for around £50m, has won a five-year extension to its contract with the City of London to provide the Square Mile with free outdoor wi-fi access. The Cloud says it will quadruple its wi-fi output in the area through a major [...]
