New Astra gives Vauxhall plant £125m lifeline May 17, 2012 THE coalition’s industrial strategy has received a major boost from General Motors’ decision to invest £125m on building a new Astra in Britain at the likely expense of Germany. Vauxhall, owned by GM, will begin assembling the next generation Astra compact at Ellesmere Port in 2015. It will create about 700 jobs at the Vauxhall [...]
Plus Markets heads for break-up as rival bidders line up with Icap May 17, 2012 PLUS Markets has moved nearer to being saved from closure but is likely to be broken up and sold off to three separate buyers. Yesterday Plus confirmed it had begun talks over the stock exchange unit with Icap, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, run by former Tory party treasurer Michael Spencer. More deals could follow, [...]
ARE YOU MORE LIKELY TO BUY A CAR IF IT IS MADE IN BRITAIN? May 17, 2012 SIMON BYATT EUROSTAR No, although I might be more likely to buy shoes or clothes made in Britain. Since the UK manufacturing industry declined we just don’t have the car-making expertise anymore – not like Japan or Germany. RICHARD ROCHE ROCHE SOLUTIONS It would be an additional benefit, but being “made in Britain” is not [...]
Russian gold miner Polyus eyes LSE listing May 17, 2012 POLYUS, Russia’s largest gold producer, said yesterday that it expects to complete a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange next month and is likely to join the FTSE 100 index. “As already the largest gold producer in Russia and one of the top ten globally, Polyus Gold aspires to become one of the world’s [...]
Third 2012 profit hit rocks French Connection stock May 17, 2012 FRENCH CONNECTION shares plunged more than 20 per cent yesterday after the fashion retailer issued its third profit warning of the year as tough high street conditions continued to take their toll. The chain said it “appears unlikely” that its full-year profits will meet expectations after revenues fell 9.5 per cent in the three months [...]
Asda market share up as it lures shoppers with price guarantee May 17, 2012 ASDA, the British arm of supermarket giant Walmart, said it continued to gain market share in the first quarter of the year as its focus on low prices and a revamping of own-brand ranges helped drive sales growth. The UK’s second-biggest supermarket chain behind Tesco, said like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT accelerated in the [...]
Garfunkel’s restaurant owner profits thanks to bad weather May 17, 2012 THE RESTAURANT GROUP, the owner of the Garfunkel’s and Frankie & Benny’s chains, said it enjoyed “a significant uplift” in sales since the end of February, as the wet weather prompted more people to visit retail parks and watch a film. The company said like-for-like sales were up four per cent in the first 19 [...]
Kesa sees sales hurt by French performance May 17, 2012 ELECTRICALS chain Kesa said sales declines worsened in its fourth quarter as consumers fretted about fallout from the Eurozone debt crisis and its core French business came up against tough digital switchover comparisons. Shares in the group fell eight per cent yesterday after the group, which sold its UK arm Comet at the beginning of [...]
ANOTHER RETAILER FEELS HIGH STREET PAIN May 17, 2012 The past four years have been a bumpy ride for the man who plastered the country with FCUK and made a fortune on the clever and intentionally mischievous four letter logo. Stephen Marks would have been forgiven last year for thinking that French Connection had put its darkest days behind it. After a painful restructuring [...]
Retailer glitters at RBS awards awards May 17, 2012 SUNGJOO Kim, the chief executive and chair of the luxury fashion brand MCM has been given the most prestigious award at the RBS sponsored Asian women of achievement awards celebrating the contribution of Asian women across British business. The judges described Sungjoo Kim (right), known as Ghengis Kim by some of her employees because of [...]
