We’re nearly at £300,000! December 15, 2011 We have been overwhelmed by the huge support from our readers for City A.M.’s first-ever Christmas charity appeal. After just four weeks of fundraising we are delighted to be within reach of raising £300,000 for our chosen charity, Opportunity International, which offers small loans and banking services to entrepreneurs in southern Malawi. We’re now asking [...]
Ashley in line for a Sports Direct bonus December 15, 2011 SPORT DIRECT’s majority owner Mike Ashley could be in line for a £12m shares windfall if the sporting goods retailer meets a series of targets over the next four years. Under new proposals Ashley, who currently receives no pay for his role as executive deputy chairman, stands to be granted 6m shares if the group [...]
Moss Bros sees sales buck high street gloom December 15, 2011 MENSWEAR brand Moss Bros has posted a double-digit rise in sales in defiance of tough trading conditions on the high street. The suits specialist said like-for-like sales for the first 19 weeks of the second half were 10.5 per cent up on the previous year, despite tougher market conditions. Gross profits were 7.9 per cent [...]
Comparisons were always going to be tough, but the game will go on December 15, 2011 WHEN you’re a sports retailer reporting against a period that last year included the FIFA World Cup, the comparatives are never going to look good. So though shares fell five per cent after Ashley announced a slight fall in profits yesterday, underlying figures show little proof of a change in upward fortunes – especially when [...]
John Wood trading in line December 15, 2011 BRITISH energy services firm John Wood Group yesterday said yesterday it was trading in line for the full year. The FTSE 100-listed group, which builds oil rigs and pipelines, said yesterday growth in 2012 would be strong, with high oil and gas prices helping to boost business. John Wood said its engineering and GTS maintenance [...]
Business travellers make move into economy class December 15, 2011 MORE business air travellers bought economy tickets in October, as they shifted from premium to cheaper seats, particularly in Europe, due to the economic crisis, industry body IATA said yesterday. Although overall travel has not stopped growing “so far”, airline profitability will be more challenging in this quarter as jet fuel prices have not fallen [...]
Pursuit boss quits after losses jump December 15, 2011 BRITISH technology developer Pursuit Dynamics yesterday announced a deeply-discounted cash call to shareholders, a wider annual loss and the departure of its chief exec Roel Pieper. The firm said it needed to raise £9.4m to fund the commercialisation of its portfolio, which includes technologies for saving energy and speeding up mixing and heating processes. The [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 15, 2011 Smith & Williamson Finbarr O’Connell, the former managing partner of turnaround specialist Re10, has joined the accountancy and investment management group as a director, bringing the total number of staff in the restructuring and recovery team to 70. O’Connell is a past president of the Insolvency Practitioners’ Association and has 25 years’ restructuring and turnaround [...]
Factories and shops caught up in gloom December 15, 2011 FRENZIED discounting across high street stores failed to stave off a drop in retail sales last month as wary consumers continued to rein in their spending in the crucial Christmas trading period. And in more bearish news for the economy, a survey from the CBI showed that orders at manufacturers have slumped to their lowest [...]
US jobless claims fall to a three-and-a-half-year low December 15, 2011 THE NUMBER of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a three-and-a-half-year low last week and factory activity in New York state scaled a seven-month high in December, more evidence of a pick-up in economic activity in the States. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 366,000, the [...]
