Petrofac in Schlumberger tie-up January 5, 2012 British energy services firm Petrofac said yesterday it will team up with Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services company, to help it bid for bigger projects with national oil companies and other firms. The pair have signed a co-operation agreement which will let them work together on projects to help resource holders such as national [...]
JJB enjoys an uplift in sales for Christmas January 5, 2012 SPORTS retailer JJB, which was on the verge of collapse last year, has battled its way through the crucial Christmas period, reporting a five per cent lift in like-for-like sales in December. JJB’s second-half like-for-like sales fell by 7.8 per cent while margins fell by 3.2 per cent, it said yesterday. But this was still [...]
US retailers slash prices to lure festive bargain-hunters January 5, 2012 MANY US store chains had to offer deep discounts to entice shoppers over the holiday selling season, cutting into profits even as overall December sales came in slightly above expectations. JC Penney yesterday cut its quarterly profit forecast, citing “higher markdown activity”, and its shares fell 2.7 per cent. Kohl’s also cut its holiday-quarter profit [...]
PZ Cussons set to buy up Fudge January 5, 2012 PZ CUSSONS, the company behind Imperial Leather shower products, is to add haircare business Fudge to its beauty range in an attempt to cash in on the growing male grooming market. The company, which is also responsible for St Tropez, Sanctuary and Charles Worthington products, will pay private equity firm Sabre £25.5m for the Australian [...]
Heston helps to boost Waitrose January 5, 2012 SUPERMARKET Waitrose said yesterday it had seen Christmas sales jump this year. The shops, part of the John Lewis Partnership, saw a 3.5 per cent jump in like-for-like grocery sales in December. In the week leading up to New Year, total sales rose by 9.7 per cent on last year. Among the big sellers were [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: DO JJB’S RESULTS SHOW SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT? January 5, 2012 FREDDIE GEORGE | SEYMOUR PIERCE Although trading improved over Christmas against very easy comparatives, management, in our view, is running out of time to turn this business around. It needs to find a clear niche and a format, differentiated from its competitors. PHILIP DORGAN | PANMURE GORDON This trading statement probably exceeds market expectations. That [...]
Clinton Cards’ new strategy raises takings January 5, 2012 CLINTON CARDS brought some cheer to the market yesterday, after revealing a rise in Christmas sales, thanks largely to the strategy of its new chief executive, the former coffee man Darcy Willson-Rymer (pictured). As managing director of Starbucks UK and Ireland, Willson-Rymer was credited for steering the coffee chain through the recession and reinvigorating its [...]
Barnes & Noble tanks on e-reader spin-off plans January 5, 2012 AMERICAN book retailer Barnes & Noble (BN) is exploring options for splitting its Nook e-reader business from its bookshop core, refusing to specify whether it would sell the arm. While sales of all Nook devices in the last two months of 2011 were up 70 per cent on the previous year, the Nook Simple Touch [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK HIGH STREET RETAILERS ARE IN FOR A GOOD 2012? January 5, 2012 BABAK SHIRAZI XL INSURANCE “If the retail market reacts so that you can get cheap deals in stores there will be an increase, but otherwise people will shop online.” DAVID WYATT AON “Things will definitely pick up. People will always spend regardless of recession. A lot of people still go online to compare bargains.” JOHN [...]
SEASICK IN THE CITY AS BROADGATE HOLDS SWAY January 5, 2012 CITY WORKERS in the Broadgate Tower dropped everything on Tuesday to look up the meaning of “deflection”, after strong winds made the building sway so dramatically that staff complained of seasickness. The building may have been designed by award-winning architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill – but when you are stuck in a 165m tower that [...]
