Asos on fleek? Share price dips despite strong sales growth January 14, 2016 Online fashion retailer Asos unveiled results ahead of expectations this morning, with retail sales of £446.9m in the four months to the end of December, up 22 per cent from last year. But that wasn't enough to impress investors. The figures In a statement this morning, the retailer said group revenue had risen 23 per cent to [...]
JD Sports raises profit guidance by 10 per cent as Christmas sales soar January 14, 2016 JD Sports has increased its guidance on pre-tax profit, saying it could beat consensus by up to 10 per cent, after Christmas sales soared. Like-for-like store sales in the core sports fashion fascias were up 10.6 per cent in the five weeks to 2 January, JD said. As a result, it said headline profit before tax [...]
Tesco’s share price soars as supermarket beats expectations for Christmas trading as sales rise January 14, 2016 Tesco has beaten expectations for its Christmas trading, with sales up for the six weeks to 9 January, prompting the supermarket's share price to soar more than seven per cent this morning. The figures The UK's largest retailer grew group sales by 2.1 per cent in the six weeks to 9 January, with UK like-for-likes [...]
London had 1m contactless Tube journeys in a single day January 14, 2016 The number of contactless journeys on the Tube made with Visa surpassed one million for the first time in just a single day in the lead up to Christmas as paying with just a swipe of a card or phone grows in popularity. The use of contactless Visa increased 166 per cent annually in December alone and commuters spent £339m taking 7.75m [...]
House prices: UK outpaced London as prime central property prices dropped last year January 14, 2016 House prices in central London fell by 8.7 per cent last year as higher stamp duty bills hit demand for £1.5m-plus homes, new research shows. Estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains said prices dropped sharply in the capital’s five most expensive boroughs, dragging the annual rate of growth in London to 5.6 per cent, [...]
Australia’s Wesfarmers in advanced talks to buy Home Retail Group’s Homebase for £340m January 13, 2016 Home Retail Group last night signalled the break-up of its retail empire after revealing that it is in advanced talks to sell Homebase to one of Australia’s biggest listed companies for £340m. The Perth-based Wesfarmers, which operates department stores and supermarkets as well as coal production facilities, began talks with Home Retail in September before [...]
Mix it up: Low alcohol cocktails mean you can behave yourself without being a bore January 13, 2016 It's at this time of year that the puritanical prohibitionists start to circle. They can sniff out your Christmas excesses from 100 paces, and know that the New Year brings not only promise but promises, too. Dry January, sadly, isn't a prayer for clement weather. On top of the proselytising pressure to forsake alcohol for [...]
Burns Night: where to celebrate January’s hottest event in London January 13, 2016 Mr Fogg’s The waiting staff at Mr Fogg’s, a bar themed around the famous fictitious Victorian traveller of the same name in Mayfair, are swapping their military uniforms for kilts. Guests are invited to toast the Scottish bard with a glass of Glenmorangie Original 10yr whisky, sample haggis canapes and enjoy a recital of his [...]
Dunelm share price drops as the homeware chain blames the weather for disappointing Christmas sales January 13, 2016 Dunelm's share price has tumbled nearly five per cent after the homeware chain blamed the warm winter weather for disappointing second quarter sales, placing it among the retail losers this Christmas. The family-owned listed company, which has 151 stores selling everything from curtains to sofas, said like-for-like sales slid by 0.8 per cent in the 13 weeks to 2 January after stripping out the impact of [...]
Family debt jumped 42 per cent to more than £13,500 in six months January 13, 2016 With growth in the economy looking shaky, it seems the amount people are borrowing has increased: new figures showed family household debt rose a whopping 42 per cent to £13,520 in the final six months of last year. The figure, which excludes mortgages, is up from £9,520 in summer 2015, and £9,050 last winter. It's also [...]