CITY VIEWS | HAS MARKS & SPENCER LOST ITS SPARK? May 22, 2012 PORTOLEIO MATTHEW CHARTIS I don’t think so. Its retail services are very good so this is just due to reduced profitability in the economy. If you compare it with Sainsbury or Tesco it is a much higher value brand and its bakery is exceptional. NATASHA RUSKINA IG GROUP No. I think this dip is just [...]
Waitrose and budget grocers outpace rivals May 22, 2012 TESCO AND MORRISONS’ market shares are still under pressure from fierce competition, retail data showed yesterday, as upmarket and discount retailers outpaced the middle market. Kantar Worldpanel figures for the 12 weeks to 13 May 2012 revealed that Aldi grew sales by more than 25 per cent compared with the same period last year, achieving [...]
Tesco’s Philip Clarke waives annual bonus May 22, 2012 PHILIP CLARKE, Tesco’s chief executive, said he would forgo his £372,000 annual bonus after the retailer’s weak UK performance last year prompted its first profit warning in 20 years. “I decided at the beginning of the year that I would decline my annual bonus for 2012,” Clarke said in a statement yesterday. “I wasn’t satisfied [...]
IMF wants Bank of England rate cut to help GDP May 22, 2012 BRITAIN’S economy needs more support from the Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday, arguing that falling inflation means interest rates can be lowered even further. “The economy has been flat” as “private demand-led growth has not fully materialised,” IMF boss Christine Lagarde said, after first quarter GDP estimates showed a contraction. [...]
THE IMF’S UK ASSESSMENT May 22, 2012 Growth has been flat, in part because of “essential” deficit reduction and households cutting their debts, but also because of the Eurozone crisis Unemployment is falling and remains relatively low considering economic woes Growth should pick up over the second half of this year, as long as the Eurozone crisis does not worsen sharply Inflation [...]
Inflation at its lowest level in over two years May 22, 2012 INFLATION fell back into its target bracket last month for the first time in over two years, official data showed yesterday, saving Bank of England governor Mervyn King from writing yet another letter of explanation to the chancellor. Consumer prices rose three per cent in the year to April, down from 3.5 per cent in [...]
Power market overhaul set to push up bills May 22, 2012 PLANS to shake up Britain’s energy market were unveiled by the government yesterday, in a sweeping overhaul that looks set to raise household bills to pay for a greater mix in the country’s power supply. Energy bills are forecast to jump by around £100 a year by 2030 under the plans, but the coalition insists [...]
ENERGY BILL AT A GLANCE May 22, 2012 The new draft Energy Bill, combined with parts of the Finance Bill 2011, is the biggest change to the UK energy market in decades It aims to secure Britain’s energy supply by diversifying into green power, domestic gas and shoring up the nuclear sector The government reckons it can attract £110bn of new energy investment [...]
Insurers fear industry will miss deadline May 22, 2012 MORE than a third of UK insurers fear the industry will miss the deadline to comply with the forthcoming Solvency II reforms, according to research carried out for Deloitte by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Insurers also said uncertainty over the final draft of the EU directive – which will lift capital requirements – has increased costs. Rick [...]
Investors take $1.6bn stake in F1 as IPO looms May 22, 2012 PRIVATE equity house CVC Capital has moved closer to its hotly anticipated flotation of Formula One by selling a $1.6bn (£1.01bn) stake to three major investors. CVC, which owned 63.4 per cent of F1, has sold 21 per cent of the business, it said yesterday. Asset managers BlackRock and Waddell & Reed alongside Norges Bank [...]
