Mothercare raises alarm as its sales continue spiral downwards October 5, 2011 MOTHERCARE has sent further shockwaves through the retail sector by revealing its UK sales have been “well below” expectations. The retailer said a downturn in consumer confidence seen following the UK riots continued to knock trading over the last month. In an update that triggered a 42 per cent slump in its shares, Mothercare said [...]
Tesco sees UK sales hit by shopper woes October 5, 2011 TESCO yesterday reported its weakest six-monthly UK sales growth figures for 20 years as higher food and fuel costs took their toll on household budgets. UK like-for-like sales, excluding petrol and VAT, fell by 0.5 per cent in the six months to 27 August. The retailer said that underlying sales of food were up but [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW SERIOUS IS TESCO’S RECENT SALES SLIP? October 5, 2011 DAVID MCCARTHY | EVOLUTION SECURITIES Our overriding impression is that the UK business remains disappointing and we are unconvinced that enough has been done to put it back on track. We are concerned strategically on Tesco. We had hoped that the Big Price Drop would be a significant event, but it looks increasingly disappointing. ANNA [...]
Sainsbury’s buoyed by fuel and clothing October 5, 2011 SAINSBURY’S yesterday reported a like-for-like sales lift, with clothing one of its top performers. The retailer’s sales were up 1.9 per cent excluding fuel in the quarter to 1 October. Its convenience stores business continued to grow at a rate of 20 per cent, with sales growth stronger than in its supermarkets. It said its [...]
Marston’s sales lifted by healthy pub food figures October 5, 2011 PUB chain Marston’s reported a sales rise yesterday, fuelled by the performance of its meal deals. The company said its “lunch for a fiver” offer and a free drink with a sandwich order helped the group improve its managed pubs food sales by five per cent in the year to the end of September. Including [...]
Thorntons sales melt away October 5, 2011 Chocolate maker and retailer Thorntons yesterday said sales had fallen 7.6 per cent in the past three weeks. Sales from its own shops were down 10.1 per cent. Chief executive Jonathan Hart said cost-conscious consumers were choosing promotions over full-price chocolates, and the high street remained weak. He said that Thorntons’ rollout of its new [...]
PwC sees IPO freeze for the rest of 2011 October 5, 2011 A WORRYINGLY low number of companies are planning to list on Europe’s stock markets in the remaining months of this year as they abandon fundraising in the current bearish markets, PwC will warn today. High volatility and low investor confidence have taken their toll on listings over the past quarter, with less than €1bn (£860m) [...]
Barclay brothers reveal flow of bids for Ritz hotel October 5, 2011 SIR DAVID and Sir Frederick Barclay have recieved several unsolicited bids for their Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly and have valued the legendary site to be worth more than £625m. The Barclay brothers, who also own the Telegraph newspapers, revealed the approaches in the hotel’s annual results published on companies house, which also states that the [...]
Costco results miss forecasts October 5, 2011 COSTCO Wholesale missed forecasts for its fourth quarter profit yesterday and said it will increase its annual membership fee for a little more than 22m members. For the fourth quarter, net income was $478m, or $1.08 a share, compared with $432m, or 97 cents a share a year ago. Sales rose 17 per cent to [...]
Monsanto in operating loss October 5, 2011 GLOBAL agribusiness company Monsanto posted a smaller-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and said it would restate financial results for 2009, 2010 and prior 2011 quarters due to issues with its glyphosate herbicide business. The company yesterday posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $112m, or 21 cents a share. The loss from continuing operations was 22 cents a [...]
