Home Retail profit slips as Argos chief quits April 20, 2011 Home Retail Group said its full-year pre-tax profit fell to £265.2m from £293m compared with the previous last year. Sales for the 52 weeks to 26 February 2011 hit £5.8n – down three per cent on the previous year. The figures were in line with guidance and the company maintained its 10p final dividend. The [...]
THE TIPSTER April 17, 2011 EARNINGS get into full swing this week. Tomorrow sees retail giant Tesco reporting its prelims. Most retail stocks have had it hard recently, with profit warnings being issued left right and centre, but in the last couple of weeks buyers have been attracted back into these stocks, believing the weakness presents a buying opportunity. Capital [...]
US investor gives Home Retail a boost April 5, 2011 HOME Retail Group saw its shares jump yesterday after US private equity firm Madison Dearborn Capital Partners upped its stake. The Argos and Homebase owner issued a profit warning last month but was buoyed by the move from across the Atlantic. Tradewinds Global Investors, controlled by Chicago-based Madison, held 4.25 per cent of Home Retail’s [...]
Corporate lift for Park Group April 5, 2011 CHRISTMAS hampers and voucher specialists Park Group said it expects trading to be in line with market expectations for its year ending 31 March and Christmas 2011 orders are up five per cent year-on-year. Liverpool-based Park Group will report full results on 14 June, but said it had performed well despite the freeze before Christmas [...]
Short sellers cover positions on HMV April 4, 2011 THE PERCENTAGE of shares held short in troubled entertainment retailer HMV has fallen, as sellers cover their positions, according to researcher DataExplorers. The struggling firm had seen 25 per cent of its shares out on loan in January, although investors are no longer shorting the firms stock as heavily. Yet the percentage of the retailer’s [...]
YouGov in US expansion as profit rises April 4, 2011 POLLING firm YouGov yesterday reported a profit rise of 64 per cent as it unveiled an acquisition in the US. The company posted a £2.3m underlying pre-tax profit while turnover was up 27 per cent to £27m in the period in the six months to 31 January. YouGov, whose biggest market is the US, also [...]
Consumer confidence worrying for everyone March 22, 2011 WHAT do politicians, retailers, the media and market researchers have in common? They are all talking and worrying, about “consumer confidence”. ECONOMY IS BIGGEST ISSUE Over three quarters of the UK population think the economy is the most important issue facing the country and the Bloomberg/YouGov Household Economic Activity Tracker shows 55 per cent expecting [...]
Debenhams upbeat despite tough market March 15, 2011 Debenhams said it was well placed to cope with a worsening consumer market by focussing on growing profit margins rather than chasing sales. The department store chain, which trades from 166 stores in Britain, Ireland and Denmark and about 60 franchised outlets in 23 countries, forecast first half pre-tax profit in line with a market [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 13, 2011 F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT Deutsche Bank has downgraded the asset manager from “hold” to “sell” with a target price of 76p. The broker sees two new risks from the firm’s results last week that are not reflected in the current share price: a decline in equity investment performance and a dispute with key client Millennium BCP. [...]
Home Retail shares hit in profit alert March 10, 2011 HOME Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Homebase, issued a profit warning yesterday, saying worried shoppers were reining in their spending. The company said that it now expected pre-tax profit for the year to 26 February to be between £250m and £255m. In January it had forecast full-year year profit of about £263m, down [...]