Clothes push retail sales up 0.3pc in April May 20, 2010 IMPROVING clothing and department store sales offset flat food sales to push British retail revenues slightly higher than expected in April, according to the Office for National Statistics. Including petrol and diesel, high street sales rose 0.3 per cent last month, above analysts’ forecasts of 0.2 per cent and up 1.8 per cent year-on-year. The [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU SPENDING MORE? May 20, 2010 DAVID KESBY | KESBY & COMPANY “I am spending more because business is better and I am more confident than I was a year ago when my business went through a dip. Although the retail index is up, consumer confidence is still wavering because there are still fears of a double dip.” DAVOR LALIC | [...]
Profits rise as Post Office eyes sell off May 20, 2010 ROYAL MAIL boosted its full-year operating profit 26 per cent yesterday, while its unions reacted angrily to Lib-Con plans to inject private cash into the state-owned operator. The company raised its operating profit by £83m to £404m last year despite a series of strikes by postal workers last autumn. The business put its improved performance [...]
SEC continues to hunt for 6 May flash crash cause May 20, 2010 FRUSTRATED lawmakers yesterday pressed regulators to move faster to pinpoint the cause of the mysterious 6 May market crash, known as the “flash crash”. Both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission told a Senate banking committee, working on a joint report, admitted yesterday that they had yet to find a [...]
BP accused by US of cover up May 20, 2010 The US government yesterday accused energy giant BP of falling short in the information it has provided about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in a clear sign of Washington’s growing frustration with BP’s handling of the spiralling environmental disaster.
Gap reports strong sales May 20, 2010 Gap posted first-quarter earnings yesterday that topped analysts’ estimates and were up 40 per cent at $302m (£210m), compared to $215m a year earlier. The chain raised its full-year profit forecast after all of its North American brands posted sales gains. The company behind the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands said it now [...]
Grainger says its future is as safe as houses May 20, 2010 PROPERTY giant Grainger will use a dramatic swing back to black as a springboard to grow its residential portfolio. The firm turned a yawning £143m loss last year into a slender £3.5m profit. It reported operating profits of £48.0m, a 16 per cent hike from the £41.3m reported in 2009. Its residential sales shot up [...]
Dell quarterly profits rise 52pc May 20, 2010 DELL’S shares fell three per cent yesterday on the back of the computer maker’s quarterly results, which beat profit expectations but delivered a disappointing gross margin increase. First quarter net profit was up 52 per cent to $441m (£307m) from $290m it reported the year before, while revenue climbed by 21 per cent to $14.87bn, [...]
ATM inventor dies after illness May 20, 2010 JOHN SHEPHERD-BARON, the man who invented the ATM machine, has died at the age of 84. He initially came up with the idea for the cash machine in 1965 and while at De La Rue Instruments, he installed the first ATM machine at a Barclays bank in Enfield in 1967.
West LB faces pressure on bank mergers May 20, 2010 GERMANY’S WestLB said yesterday it saw continuing pressure for consolidation in its state-backed, regional, or landesbank, banking sector, even as its major peers dismiss the need for mergers. Chief executive Dietrich Voigtlaender said: “The landesbank sector remains under intense pressure to adapt. We have done our homework and will contribute to making the landesbank sector [...]
