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 [...]
Hornby steams ahead as train sets boost sales over Christmas February 10, 2015 Model railways and Scalextric train sets were on people’s wishlists this Christmas, helping toymaker Hornby deliver a five per cent rise in third quarter sales. The Kent-based company said UK sales over the three months from 1 October were seven per cent ahead of the same time last year and that the year ahead looked [...]
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 [...]
Apple becomes most valuable publicly traded company ever February 10, 2015 Apple has become the first ever publicly traded company to exceed a total value of $700bn (£459bn). Shares in the technology giant went up by two per cent to $122.02 (£79.99) at close on Tuesday, giving the company a valuation of $711bn (£466bn). This was $13.4bn (£8.8bn) higher than on Monday, and makes Apple [...]
Tesco’s share price jumps as Kantar figures reveal the supermarket has grown sales for first time in a year – but it is still losing market share February 10, 2015 Tesco's share price jumped nearly two per cent this morning after figures revealed it had grown for the first time since January 2014. The UK's biggest retailer recorded sales growth of 0.3 per cent to £7.9bn for the 12 weeks to February 1, according to Kantar Worldpanel. But that was not enough to stem the [...]
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 [...]
What’s love got to do with it? February 9, 2015 WALL STREET, the London Stock Exchange, and Hong Kong have all been occupied at various points, but now anti-capitalism protesters are turning their attention to a new target… love. Occupy Democracy, an offshoot of the former residents outside St Paul’s, have declared that they will spend a romantic Valentine’s day camped in Parliament Square. The [...]
Arm buys into the Internet of Things with acquisition of Dutch firm Offspark February 9, 2015 It looks like UK chip designer Arm Holdings sees its future in internet-ready fridges. The company has just announced the acquisition of Offspark, a Dutch firm which specialises in security software for the Internet of Things. There are signs the Internet of Things is finally making headway, with headline grabbers like Google's $3.2bn (£2bn) acquisition [...]
Confident Brits return to shops to splash cash February 8, 2015 CONFIDENT shoppers are returning to the high street in their droves – with spending rising faster in shops than online, according to figures out today from Visa Europe. Upbeat Britons surged back into restaurants and bars after Christmas, spending more in person. But clothing sales fell, and overall online spending dipped a touch on the [...]
Premier League set for £4bn in TV auction bids and Sky and BT prepare for battle February 5, 2015 Today marks the closing of the deadline for bids in the multi-billion pound auction for the UK TV broadcast rights of the Premier League. The three seasons to 2019 of the most-watched football league in the world will certainly see BT and Sky battle it out for the coveted rights. But with the added possibility [...]