Online shoppers don’t proceed to checkout in Jan February 17, 2015 THE BLACK Friday and Christmas shopping bonanza has led to a slow-down in online retail sales in January, according to the latest monthly figures from industry analysts IMRG and Capgemini. Sales slumped by 25 per cent compared with the previous month as consumers recovered from the festive shopping period, the IMRG Capgemini e-retail sales index [...]
AO World share price falls 10 per cent to below IPO price February 13, 2015 Shares in online white goods retailer AO World fell more than 10 per cent to 268.3p in early afternoon trading, after a broker set a "sell" rating on its stock. In a note, Panmure Gordon urged investors to "capitalise on the unjustified level of price appreciation over the last quarter". This is a high quality [...]
Cricket Comment: Underdog status in England’s favour February 11, 2015 Our new columnist on the chances of England upsetting the odds and lifting their first World Cup. England are unlikely to win the World Cup but you just never know. They are certainly going in the right direction and the chances of success are a lot higher than they were a couple of months [...]
Xmas hangover causes retailers January blues February 10, 2015 SHOPPERS held back on their spending in January after splashing out over Christmas and Black Friday, according to accountancy firm BDO. Figures from BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker show that sales from stores open at least a year at mid-sized high street chains grew just two per cent last month. Like-for-like sales jumped 10.3 per [...]
Black Friday spurs Brits to spend £1.5bn more in November 2014 February 10, 2015 Britons spent £1.5bn more in November than the previous year after a surge in the popularity of Black Friday discount deals, research from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released today shows. The consultancy company said around £28.7bn in sales took place in November, with 66 per cent of consumers either delaying or bringing forward their Christmas [...]
Sales down but market share up as New Look turnaround continues February 10, 2015 New Look has suffered declines in the “unseasonably warm” three months to December 27- but the fast fashion chain is still buoyant after growing market share. The figures New Look's revenues dropped 1.6 per cent in the third quarter, from £406.6m to £399.9m. Adjusted EBITDA was £76.8m, down 2.7 per cent from £78.9m last [...]
Inflation report to give clues on rate hike date – London Report February 8, 2015 THE BANK of England’s quarterly inflation report is this week expected to offer an insight into whether historically-low interest rates will be increased this year or next. Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said: “The Bank of England will obviously have to cut its near-term inflation forecasts sharply given that consumer price inflation fell sharply [...]
Oil prices just had their best two-week run in 17 years finishing up 2.2 per cent to $57.8 per barrel February 7, 2015 Oil prices roared towards big weekly gains that have not been seen in years on Friday, as investors shrugged off concerns over a global supply glut, and instead focused on future levels of production. Brent crude, the global benchmark, posted a nine per cent gain for the week, or the biggest since 2011. Prices were [...]
Alibaba share price down in pre-market trading as Chinese etailer disappoints January 29, 2015 Alibaba's share price was down more than eight per cent in pre-market trading today as the Chinese etailing giant released below-expectations quarterly figures. The figures: Revenues in the three months to December 31 rose 40 per cent to $4.2bn (£2.8bn), while income was up just six per cent to $1.5bn. Analysts were expecting revenues [...]
2015 ticks off to a good start January 28, 2015 Richemont’s finest came to SIHH with some horological humdingers Wandering the lofty, beige halls of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) inside Geneva Airport’s cavernous Palexpo complex – “probably the most luxurious trade fair in the world” – the seeming neutrality of its colour-scheme belies the horological hierarchy at play here. Unlike the [...]