DOES TESCO’S FIRST QUARTER GROWTH MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS? June 16, 2009 RICHARD HUNTER HARGREAVES LANSDOWN“The headlines have tended to centre on Tesco’s loss of market share, as opposed to the progress it is making. Its international businesses in particular continue to bolster overall performance, contributing a 20 per cent rise in sales over the period. But the growing intensity of competition is not likely to abate.” [...]
COMMODITY CURRENCIES SLOW DOWN June 16, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT ONE of the best trades in the FX market in the past three months has been to go long on the Commonwealth currencies of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These were the biggest beneficiaries of the recovery trade as global demand picked up. Spurred by China’s seemingly insatiable demand [...]
Eurozone banks will prove the downfall of the single currency June 16, 2009 AFTER months of Europe scoffing at the troubles of the Anglo-Saxon banking system, it appears likely that many Eurozone banks have plenty of skeletons in their own closets. The European Central Bank (ECB) said earlier this week in its Financial Stability Review that it estimated Eurozone bank writedowns due to securities – or toxic assets [...]
Tesco upbeat as sales meet expectations June 16, 2009 TESCO, Britain’s largest retailer, yesterday said it had made a “solid start” to the year, reporting a 4.3 per cent rise in first quarter like-for-like sales at its UK stores. The giant supermarket chain reported a higher sales lift for the 13 weeks ending 30 May than it did in the previous quarter, but its [...]
House of Fraser denies sell off June 16, 2009 House of Fraser yesterday moved to quash market rumours that it was considering selling its stores and said it was trading ahead of expectations, with sales growing in the last 12 weeks. The group said it had no plans to sell any of its 62 stores and had sufficient capital “to meet all its obligations [...]
Kesa nears 11m Swiss sell-off June 16, 2009 Kesa Electricals, Europe’s third-biggest electrical goods retailer, said yesterday it was close to selling its loss-making Swiss operation as its new chief executive moves to clean up its portfolio of businesses. The firm said it was in exclusive talks with Swiss electrical retailing chain FUST regarding the sale of its local business for about £11.4m.
WHY LIBEL TOURISM IS A BIG WORRY June 16, 2009 MAX COLEMEDIA LAWYER, MISHCON DE REYA SOLICITORS THE practice of libel shopping has been coming under scrutiny recently. Libel tourism is a type of forum shopping, the practice of finding the foreign jurisdiction which is most friendly to the claim, and the courts in this country are an appealing destination if you are a foreigner [...]
Ted Baker confident on outlook June 16, 2009 Fashion brand Ted Baker said it was confident full-year results would be in line with expectations as it posted a 7.6 per cent increase in revenue for the 19 weeks to 12 June. The group said gross margins were also in line. But Seymour Pierce yesterday warned of tough times ahead: “As a retailer that [...]
BOOST FOR HANDBAGS AND GLADRAGS June 16, 2009 ANGELA Ahrendts, the chief executive of Burberry, Britain’s largest luxury-goods company, yesterday said that the drop in demand for luxury goods was bottoming out. Ahrendts said: “Things are stabilising. They’re not getting any worse, they’re not getting significantly better.” Burberry last month fell to a full year loss after being forced to market its handbags [...]
Mediation flourishing in downturn June 16, 2009 LORD Woolf reported an intriguing statistic this month when he said that mediation delivered “a £1bn cost-saving” a year for business by diverting cases from the courts. The former Lord Chief Justice added that commercial litigation costs UK Plc £33bn per year. An average case going through the courts costs £1m and consumes three years [...]
