Matalan names Allan Leighton as its chairman October 16, 2012 FORMER Asda boss and Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton is to join the board of Matalan as chairman, the discount fashion and homeware retailer said yesterday as it posted robust second quarter sales. The highly-regarded Leighton will replace John Mills, who has been in the role for six years and will now become deputy chairman. [...]
Carpetright UK sales edge up as trading in Europe weakens October 16, 2012 FLOORING retailer Carpetright yesterday reported its third quarter of positive but slowing like-for-like UK sales as “self-help” measures such as the revamp of its stores helped to bolster turnover. Like-for-like sales increased 0.6 per cent in the three months to 13 October, a slowdown from the 1.7 per cent growth seen in the previous three [...]
N Brown aims for extra large US ambitions October 16, 2012 SHARES in N Brown Group jumped almost 14 per cent yesterday as the home shopping clothes and homeware retailer said a trial of its brands in the US had proved it could grab a share of the $35bn plus-size ladieswear market. “We’re very encouraged by our performance there… everything suggests there is a place for [...]
Informa maintains forecasts as revenue falls October 16, 2012 SPECIALIST business publisher Informa announced a drop in revenue for the first nine months of 2012 yesterday, but said it was still trading in line with its expectations for the whole year. Organic revenue fell two per cent compared to last year in the nine months to 30 September, blaming a tough trading environment for [...]
Local retailers see footfall slide October 16, 2012 ONE in six independent retailers fear they will collapse into administration in 2013 unless sales show signs of improving, according to a new study published yesterday. As the battle to retain footfall on the high street continues and family budgets remain squeezed, 16 per cent of small retail businesses feared they were unlikely to survive, [...]
Houses close to Crossrail set for price boost October 16, 2012 HOUSES near the Crossrail route through London could enjoy a boost in value of up to 25 per cent once the rail link is up and running, research claimed yesterday. While residents living in the shadow of Crossrail stations must endure years of construction work until the route opens in 2018, they can expect a [...]
Bellway profits jump as it hikes dividend October 16, 2012 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway said yesterday that a strong performance in the south of England and an uptick in sales of private homes helped boost full-year profits. Shares in the FTSE 250 firm closed up 3.2 per cent after it posted a 57 per cent jump in pre-tax profit to £105.3m for the year to 31 July, [...]
West End offices enjoys surge in investment October 16, 2012 INVESTMENT in London’s sought-after West End office market surged by 30 per cent in the third quarter as an influx of properties became available on the market and demand overseas investors continued to rise. Research by BNP Paribas Real Estate, the French bank’s property arm, said West End investment rose to £950m in the third [...]
EU watchdogs slam Google on privacy policies October 16, 2012 EUROPEAN regulators hit out at Google yesterday, criticising the web giant for changes to the way it hoards users’ personal data and demanding greater transparency over its privacy policy. A joint letter from the information commissioners of 27 countries, following an investigation by French data regulators CNIL, said that Google had ignored its “key data [...]
Russian bank’s London listing failure could hit future City IPOs October 16, 2012 THE RUSH of Russian firms looking to list in London took a blow yesterday as Promsvyazbank failed to attract sufficient investors. The dual London-Moscow listing was set to follow Sberbank and MegaFon in coming to the City. But the bank – 88.3 per cent owned by brothers Dmitry and Alexey Ananyev – said it had [...]
