Tesco, Asda and Morrisons named Christmas losers by Kantar as Waitrose, the Co operative, Aldi and Lidl crowned the winners January 12, 2016 There was little Christmas cheer for the supermarket sector – but some individual grocers outperformed the wider market, Kantar Worldpanel said this morning. The sector as a whole fell 0.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 3 January, with Asda dropping the furthest – consumer spend at the Walmart-owned retailer was down 3.5 per cent. Tesco [...]
AO World post strong third quarter results as it says it is on track to launch in the Netherlands January 12, 2016 Electrical specialist AO World has reported revenue growing in the third quarter as it says the company is on track to launch in the Netherlands and progress has been made in Germany. The figures The company reported that UK revenue for the three months to the end of December were up 24 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, ao.com's revenue increased by 35 [...]
Morrisons’s share price soars 10 per cent as supermarket returns to growth after 16 quarters of decline January 12, 2016 Morrisons's share price soared 10 per cent this morning after posting better-than-expected Christmas results, as it starts to win back customers. The figures Like-for-likes excluding fuel were up 0.2 per cent for the nine weeks to 3 January – its first quarterly growth in 16 quarters – while total sales excluding fuel were down 1.2 per cent. This [...]
Debenhams’ share price leaps 15 per cent as it shrugs off winter blues to deliver solid Christmas results January 12, 2016 Debenhams' share price leapt 15 per cent this morning, as the struggling department store shrugged off the winter blues plaguing other retailers to beat expectations for the 19 weeks to 9 January. The figures The department store has grown like-for-likes 3.5 per cent on a constant currency basis, or 1.9 per cent as reported, while gross [...]
UK retail sales: Christmas brings little cheer to retailers January 12, 2016 Christmas brought little cheer to UK retailers in December as hopes of a boost to sales from higher consumer confidence fell flat. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG’s latest monthly index shows like-for-like retail sales rose by 0.1 per cent from December 2014, when they had decreased 0.4 per cent. Total sales were up one [...]
Xchanging share price finishes down, as company urges shareholders to back Computer Sciences Corporation offer by Friday January 11, 2016 Outsourcing company Xchanging today called on its shareholders to accept a takeover offer from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) by Friday, as it warned that it could not be confident it would receive a better offer from insurance software company Ebix. In December last year, CSC made a cash offer to purchase Xchanging for 190p per share, [...]
Two companies, $20bn in combined revenue, 100 countries, and six things you need to know about Shire and Baxalta’s merger January 11, 2016 Shire spent six months trying to woo Baxalta's board, here's all you need to know about the long-awaited $32bn (£22bn) merger in six points: The deal The merger is the third largest pharma deal by a UK company, and the 16th biggest pharma deal ever, according to Dealogic's data. In the UK it is only beaten by the mega-mergers that created [...]
Environment Agency chairman Philip Dilley quits over winter floods furore January 11, 2016 Environment Agency boss Sir Philip Dilley has quit following the furore over this winter's floods. Dilley, who received a grilling in front of MPs last week, said he was "disappointed" that he was having to tender his resignation, insisting he was "well qualified to carry out this role, and had much to contribute". However, he added: "The expectations [...]
Bottoms Up: Coq d’Argent owner D&D London toasts jump in Christmas sales January 11, 2016 D&D London, the restaurant and hotel empire behind the City’s Coq D’argent and South Place Hotel, has posted a jump in sales over Christmas as diners popped open the champagne. The company, which is mulling a stock market float, said UK like-for-like sales jumped by 4.2 per cent in December. Underlying sales for the nine months [...]
Euribor rigging trial: £1m bail requested for Christian Bittar as six of 11 ex-traders accused appear in court January 11, 2016 Former Deutsche Bank employee Christian Bittar, who appeared in court today over accusations regarding the manipulation of the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor), has been ordered to pay bail security of £1m. Bittar, who was represented by David Cameron's brother Alexander Cameron QC and will turn 44 years old tomorrow, was one of the six ex-traders who attended Westminster Magistrates’ [...]