Sainsbury’s sales up but VAT alarm raised May 13, 2010 SAINSBURY’S yesterday reported a 17.5 per cent rise in pre-tax profits but warned that a sudden VAT hike from the new government could strangle the high street recovery. The company saw profits of £610m for the year to 20 March – £10m ahead of what was expected by the City. But chief executive Justin King [...]
Thomas Cook suffers £70m blow from ash cloud crisis May 13, 2010 THE chaos to air travel caused by the volcanic ash cloud knocked £70m off Thomas Cook’s profits, the company said yesterday. But the travel operator said its first- half loss narrowed despite the setback. Thomas Cook reported a pre-tax loss for the half year to 31 March of £252.2m compared with £309m the year before. [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SAINSBURY’S PERFORMANCE? May 13, 2010 FREDDIE GEORGE | SEYMOUR PIERCE “We maintain our ‘sell’ recommendation on the stock. We are concerned that we will see a return to the worries of 1990 that the food retail market is approaching saturation as we approach a more austere time for consumers. Also the sector is being more competitive.” SAM HART | CHARLES [...]
DSG cashes in on World Cup May 13, 2010 Currys and PC World owner DSG yesterday said TV sales ahead of the football World Cup had fuelled a six per cent rise in group sales in the 28 weeks to 1 May. Europe’s second-biggest electricals retailer faces stiff competition from Best Buy which opened its first UK store this month in Thurrock, Essex. DSG [...]
Luminar sales dip further May 13, 2010 Nightclub operator Luminar has suffered pre-tax losses of £110.2m for the year to February. The group, which runs the Oceana and Liquid chains, said it would extend its live music offering and look for more custom from students. The company said chief finance officer Robert McDonald would stand down. Philip Bowcock, currently group financial controller [...]
Tough trading for Telefonica May 13, 2010 O2 owner Telefonica will concentrate in rolling out its telecoms empire into emerging markets, with Brazil top of its hit-list. The firm yesterday lagged behind projections with its first quarter results yesterday, which were weighed down by a weak performance in its native Spain. Europe’s second largest telecoms firm by market capitalisation said it was [...]
HTC sues Apple over patents while LimeWire faces closure May 13, 2010 THE mobile phone firm HTC has launched legal action against Apple that could prevent sales of the iPhone and iPad in the US. The Taiwanese company, which has close links to internet giant Google, claims Apple has infringed five of its patents. The move follows legal action from Apple, which is claiming HTC broke 20 [...]
Sony aims to make its TV and games units profitable this year May 13, 2010 SONY saw a five per cent rise in revenue for the year to the end of March but admitted the going is still tough, especially in its native Japan. It aims to turn its TV and games divisions profitable in 2010 after investing heavily in new technology in recent years. It has slashed jobs, shut [...]
Portugal joins Eurozone’s push into era of austerity May 13, 2010 PORTUGUESE leaders agreed tough new austerity measures yesterday, joining a coordinated Eurozone push that has so far calmed the markets’ worst fears of a Greek-style debt crisis spreading. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and opposition leader Pedro Passos Coelho drew up steps to reduce the budget deficit by about €2bn (£1.4bn), half from spending cuts [...]
Spain’s unions to strike over austerity cuts May 13, 2010 SPAIN’S two biggest unions will stage a one-day public sector strike to protest against wage cuts aimed at bringing the budget deficit under control and preventing Spain following Greece’s path. The unions held almost three hours of talks with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero yesterday to discuss his austerity plan, announced yesterday under pressure [...]
