M&S’s board still backs Marc Bolland but its patience will not last forever January 9, 2013 THIS was no ordinary trading statement. If Marc Bolland, the Marks & Spencer chief executive, had sold an item from his womenswear ranges last autumn every time the retailer’s advertising slogan had been parroted back at him, he’d have wiped the floor with the rest of the high street. Last night’s hastily-released quarterly trading update [...]
Markets lap up Irish debt as state recovers January 8, 2013 THE EUROZONE’S bailout fund raised funds successfully yesterday, issuing three-month debt at negative yields, indicating strong support for the paper. And Ireland’s government took a big step towards recovery, easily covering a €2.5bn (£2.04bn) issue of debt maturing in 2017. It received orders totalling over €7bn, a strong reception for the state’s first long-term issuance [...]
Best of the Brokers January 8, 2013 TUI TRAVEL Morgan Stanley yesterday downgraded the travel company from “equal weight” to “underweight” with a target price of 250p, expecting seasonal losses to be higher due to an accounting change and poor cash flow. However, the analyst still sees Tui Travel as a “well-managed business, with strong market shares in European tour operating” that [...]
Best of the Brokers January 2, 2013 DOMINO’S PIZZA Numis upgraded the takeaway pizza business to “buy” from “add” and keeps its target of 625p, believing the company is likely to generate strong growth in 2013. Numis expects to see new developments, such as a gluten free menu and higher ecommerce advertising, greater expansion with new stores in the UK and the [...]
ASOS strides ahead thanks to jump in American sales December 11, 2012 A 57 per cent jump in US sales boosted fashion retailer Asos yesterday, as it posted a 30 per cent rise in sales over its first quarter. Asos, which reported sales of £165.8m in the three months to November, was flattered by a 34 per cent increase in its international business. Chief executive Nick Robinson [...]
Best of the Brokers December 9, 2012 ASOS Panmure Gordon has reiterated its “buy” rating on the fashion retailer and upped its target price from 2800p to 2875p after an analyst site visit, saying it had “enormous potential”. BERKELEY GROUP Northland UK has a “buy” rating with a target price of 1750p, adding cash generation at the firm’s sites left it well [...]
Best of the brokers December 5, 2012 WILLIAM HILL Nomura rates the bookie “reduce” with a target price of 260p. The broker thinks the firm’s exit from Greece will cost one per cent of 2013 earnings, and believes a deal to buy Sportingbet would be “excellent”. HOME RETAIL Morgan Stanley has an “overweight” rating on the Argos owner and a price target [...]
Online retailers prepare for busiest day ever December 2, 2012 HIGH street shops and online retailers will face one of their fiercest battles yet for customers this Christmas, with today set to mark the busiest internet shopping day of the year. UK online sales will peak today – dubbed Mega Monday by City analysts – with Visa Europe expecting 6.8m transactions worth £320m to be [...]
Hobbs gets the ladies on board without quotas December 2, 2012 NICKY Dulieu, the boss of fashion retailer Hobbs, has managed to recruit a nearly all-female board since taking up the helm in 2008 but insists that imposing quotas is not the way to increase the number of women in the boardroom. Asked whether she was in favour of quotas, Dulieu told City A.M: “I genuinely [...]
Ladies who power lunch are celebrated at One Marylebone November 29, 2012 SOME of the City’s best-respected women flocked to One Marylebone on Wednesday, to enjoy a slap-up lunch and give themselves a well deserved pat on the back. The excuse for such a decadent afternoon was Red’s fourth annual Women of the Year awards. Representing the business ladies at the ceremony were shortlisters Lynn Rattigan, deputy [...]