Eurozone high street morale slips March 23, 2011 Consumer confidence in the Eurozone suffered a knock in February. The European Commission’s “flash” index slipped back to -10.6, having recovered to -10 in February.
US home sales fall to record low March 23, 2011 Wall Street stocks fell in yesterday’s morning trading, partly due to disappointing new home sales data. US new home sales plummeted in February to a record low and prices were the lowest since December 2003, suggesting the housing market slide was deepening. Sales in February dropped 16.9 per cent to a seasonally adjusted 250,000 unit annual [...]
Inditex profit soars thanks to Asia boom March 23, 2011 SPAIN’S Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer and owner of the high street Zara chain, yesterday reported a surge in profit and plans to continue its march into Asia. The company posted a 33 per cent increase in overall net profit for the year ending 31 January to €1.73bn (£1.5bn). Sales worldwide soared by 13 [...]
HSBC’s Gulliver faces opposition over planned £13.3m package March 23, 2011 HSBC ’s proposal to pay its chief executive up to £13.3m this year is likely to meet shareholder opposition, investor representatives said yesterday. The bank’s compensation committee has proposed paying Stuart Gulliver a base salary of £1.25m, a bonus of up to three times that and a long-term performance-based payout six times his base salary. [...]
Slowdown in sales growth at Sainsbury’s March 23, 2011 SAINSBURY’S said yesterday that its sales growth was slowing with fears over the economy draining consumer confidence. Chief executive Justin King said that the company was performing well considering the challenges facing retailers. Like-for-like sales for the fourth-quarter were up by one per cent, below market expectations, and against growth of 3.6 per cent in [...]
Rumours of third tablet before UK launch of iPad2 March 23, 2011 THE iPad 2 isn’t released in the UK until tomorrow but rumours are already circulating about its successor. Sources yesterday claimed the iPad 3 could be released as soon as September this year. This could spell disaster for iPad rivals such as HP’s TouchPad, which is slated for release in the summer. Its specifications already [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT HAS CAUSED THE SLOWDOWN AT SAINSBURY’S? March 23, 2011 NICK BUBB | ARDEN Sainsbury’s was very pleased with itself for delivering 3.6 per cent like-for-like growth in its third-quarter, but once higher VAT and the benefit of store extensions were stripped out the performance wasn’t so impressive. We maintain a ‘weak Hold’ view. We would switch to Morrisons. CLIVE BLACK | SHORE CAPITAL The [...]
Espirito Santo profits fall on Basel III cost March 23, 2011 PORTUGUESE investment bank Espirito Santo blamed the Eurozone debt crisis and the new Basel III rules for a 22 per cent drop in net income to €122.2m (£106.3m) for the year yesterday. Espirito Santo, which bought London stockbroker Execution Noble last November, said pre-tax profit fell 3.2 per cent to €678.6m. Fees and capital market [...]
Smiths Group eyes emerging markets to increase its sales March 23, 2011 BRITISH technology firm Smiths Group said it would look to grow full-year sales through a greater focus on emerging markets, after cost cuts helped it to a higher first-half profit. “To support growth opportunities in emerging markets, we established a direct sales presence in India for both Smiths Detection and Smiths Medical,” chief executive Philip [...]
Etalon joins the ranks of the Russian IPO hopefuls March 23, 2011 PROPERTY developer Etalon yesterday became the latest Russian firm to announce a public float in London, after the family-owned business said it planned to sell off some of its stake later this year. Etalon, which builds residential property in Moscow and St Petersburg, said it planned to issue around $500m (£307.8m) of new shares and [...]
