Sainsbury’s new boss Mike Coupe blames “perfect storm” for sales drop October 1, 2014 Sainsbury's new chief executive said that a “perfect storm” of effects had plunged sales further into the red in the second quarter as the supermarket retailer cut its full-year sales forecast and warned that it might review its dividend. In his first official trading update since taking over from Justin King in July, Mike [...]
Why Tesco’s share price just fell to an 11 year low September 22, 2014 Another surprise announcement this morning from Tesco has further dampened the supermarket’s outlook when it really must have been hoping to move on from recent rough times. Shares fell more than 11 per cent to an 11-year low after announcing a £250m error in its first-half results. Whether its an accounting error or something worse, investigating the [...]
The Wedgwood collection is a key piece of our commercial heritage – let’s keep it together September 4, 2014 We have three months to save a vital piece of Britain’s commercial heritage. The Art Fund, an independent charity which helps buy art for the nation, has already raised a heroic £13m. It is now seeking a final £2.74m in donations by 30 November to keep the Wedgwood collection together in its Staffordshire home. Waterford [...]
Rising rates will kill off the zombie firms – but this may hurt SMEs too August 13, 2014 It’s been a while since we heard about zombie companies – those businesses without much of a future, clinging on mainly because of record low interest rates. There’s an underworld of these poorly performing firms – unable to invest, tired, demotivated, with poorly rewarded staff and new ideas that are thwarted at every turn by [...]
Small interest rate hike would kill 20,000 zombie businesses July 17, 2014 Hiking interest rates to just 1.5 per cent would drive tens of thousands of companies to the wall, insolvency practitioner Begbies Traynor warned yesterday. It estimates there are 218,000 distressed firms in the UK, a large proportion of which are zombies – businesses that are staying afloat only because interest rates have been kept so [...]
M&S profit falls less than expected as Bolland stresses step by step approach May 20, 2014 Marks and Spencer has reported a fall in profits for the third year in a row: in the year ended in March, the store saw a 3.9 per cent decrease in underlying pre-tax profit, to £623m. That is, however, considerably better than the 7.5 per cent drop analysts have been predicting. Pressured chief executive Marc [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 17 April 2014 April 17, 2014 FINACIAL TIMES Knights less likely to cut jobs A group of European academics have concluded that company bosses are less likely to cut jobs to boost profits if they are in line for an honour, for fear of drawing the ire of politicians and the public. The study looked at companies in New Zealand, which [...]
The real casualties of the supermarket price wars April 16, 2014 The threat posed by the hard discounters on Britain’s big four retailers has been well documented. Tesco’s chief executive Philip Clarke today described his discount rivals as “formidable” as he announced further plans to slash prices beyond the £200m already set aside in February. But new research shows that the biggest unrecognised casualties of the [...]
Strong start to 2014 as growth raises optimism January 20, 2014 CONSUMER confidence has ballooned over the past 12 months, with positive sentiment about the housing market nearly doubling from the beginning of last year. Lloyds’ spending power report for December, released today, says that the number of people with positive perceptions about the housing market has risen from 23 per cent at the end of [...]
English football going German and embracing fan ownership November 25, 2013 ENGLISH football is set for a steep rise in the number of clubs adopting fan-owned structures, according to a new study. Teams in financial difficulties are particularly likely to turn to the community interest company (CIC) model, report insolvency experts Begbies Traynor. Darlington, Eastbourne and Scottish side Stenhousemuir are among those to embrace increased supporter [...]