Every little helps as Tesco tie-up pushes up earnings at Ageas UK August 6, 2012 AGEAS UK, the British arm of the Belgian insurer, yesterday announced a strong set of results boosted by earnings growth at its joint venture with Tesco. Pre-tax profits for the first half of 2012 hit £64.1m, an increase of 81 per cent on the same period last year while the total combined ratio – a [...]
You can bank on Tesco to become competitive in financial services August 6, 2012 TESCO has had a challenging 2012 to date. We saw the rebasing of group earnings in January; an unwelcome slowdown in trading at loss-making Fresh & Easy in the US; decelerating trading conditions in Central Europe; and impacts from restrictions on large store opening hours in South Korea – its most significant market outside the [...]
The technology paradox: It will kill jobs but rescue Britain’s economy August 5, 2012 THE LATEST GDP numbers were awful. The UK economy shrank by 0.7 per cent. But rather than embarking on political blame-games, we must face a stark fact: the economy needs a clean-out. All the fiscal and monetary levers have been pulled, and they haven’t worked. A much bigger story is at play – digital technology [...]
ANALYST OF THE YEAR July 31, 2012 TODAY’S shortlists for the third annual City A.M. awards kick off with the five analysts we have shortlisted who epitomise all that is positive about the City. Their independence and capacity to make accurate calls on stock or the wider economy ahead of rivals sets them apart. All have shown an ability to give detailed [...]
Amazon keeps lion’s share of UK market July 23, 2012 ONLINE retail giant Amazon has built up its spot at the top of the UK entertainment market, largely at the expense of supermarket rivals and specialists like HMV, according to research published yesterday. Kantar Worldpanel figures for the 12 weeks to 10 June show that Amazon strengthened its market share by 3.2 percentage points, boosted [...]
Stocks edge upwards on renewed hope for more quantitative easing July 18, 2012 BRITAIN’S benchmark share index closed at its highest level in nearly two weeks yesterday, as hopes of fresh central bank stimulus measures lifted equity markets, although traders said the overall weak economic outlook would limit any future gains. The blue-chip FTSE 100 ended up 56.68 points, or one per cent, at 5,685.77 points – its [...]
Budget grocers up market slice July 17, 2012 BUDGET supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl have raised their market share again, new figures showed yesterday. The latest Kantar Worldpanel survey revealed that Lidl and Aldi have 2.9 per cent each of the UK market, a record for the budget chains, which have been catching their rivals as austerity bites. Among the big four grocers, [...]
Retail bonds boom as ICAP shuts its £50m issue ahead of schedule July 17, 2012 BROKER ICAP yesterday closed its £50m retail bond issue earlier than expected following a strong response from investors. “ICAP has met sufficient demand for the bond,” a spokesman said. They declined to comment on the likelihood of future issues. The bond offered a 5.5 per cent return over a six year period and subscribers could [...]
Retail investors step in where others fear to tread July 16, 2012 With UK institutional shareholders effectively closing the door on supporting money-raising for anything that has the smell of risk about it, like an IPO or new issue for instance, some companies and their financial advisers have been scurrying around to find new methods of raising capital. One such instrument that has been gaining currency in [...]
BEST of the BROKERS July 12, 2012 TESCO Shore Capital has a “hold” rating on the supermarket giant and a target price of 319p. The broker thinks Tesco is making steady progress improving its performance in the UK, but has downgraded full-year earnings forecasts by nine per cent for the firm’s Europe division, 12 per cent for the US and 9.5 per [...]