Three things you didn’t know about… April 7, 2014 The founder and chief executive of Peregrine Communications Anthony Payne 1 Anthony was born and grew up in Nairobi before moving to Chicago in mid-winter aged 13. The snow was a bit of a shock, as was going from having no TV to over 55 channels. 2 He has held a pilot licence since he [...]
EU votes to abolish all mobile roaming fees by Christmas 2015 April 3, 2014 THE EUROPEAN Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of proposals to scrap mobile roaming fees across Europe yesterday. Under the new rules voted in yesterday making a call or sending an email from a mobile phone whilst abroad in Europe will cost the same as it does in the UK from 15 December 2015. “This is [...]
Ofgem plans larger payouts for those hit by winter power cuts April 1, 2014 OFGEM yesterday called on network operators to double the compensation payouts for customers affected by power cuts during the Christmas storms. The energy regulator has proposed doubling payments to £70 during severe weather and wants to increase the cap for payments from £216 to £700. Around one million customers had their power cut off during [...]
Bottom Line: Chinese ambition trumps a market return March 31, 2014 ALMOST 25 years ago, a Hong Kong retail tycoon called Dickson Poon stunned London by taking a chance on Harvey Nichols – a fading department store in dire need of a makeover. Poon was one of the first to spot a trend that now seems obvious; the Asian shopper’s thirst for designer labels that has [...]
Sport Comment: Tennis is continuing to ignore its winning lottery ticket March 30, 2014 WHILE the Champions League, Grand National, Boat Race and Heineken Cup promise one of the great weeks of the year in the next seven days, the quarter-finals of one of international sport’s most undervalued jewels will be taking place at the same time, and remarkably Great Britain are involved. The Czech Republic play Japan, Germany [...]
Laura Ashley prints are back in fashion after retailer cuts prices March 28, 2014 LAURA Ashley says customers fell back in love with its floral patterns in the second half of its year after a tough first half dragged full-year sales down 1.4 per cent to £294.5m. Finance chief Sean Anglim admitted that it may have alienated its core customers by making its clothing too expensive after fashion sales [...]
Profits at Next set to overtake Marks & Spencer March 20, 2014 PROFITS at fashion and homeware retailer Next are set to top those at rival Marks & Spencer for the first time after the group rounded-off a buoyant year of sales with a strong Christmas trading period. The group, which has over 800 shops in the UK and overseas, said sales rose 5.5 per cent in [...]
Mulberry to go picking for a new chief executive as Guillon quits March 20, 2014 THE CHIEF executive of Mulberry has abruptly left the group after presiding over a string of profit warnings and falling sales at the luxury brand, it confirmed yesterday. Bruno Guillon, who joined from French fashion brand Hermes in 2012, has been criticised for alienating Mulberry’s core shoppers by pushing up prices in an attempt to [...]
Majestic shares dumped after profit warning March 20, 2014 INVESTORS uncorked their shares in Majestic Wine yesterday after the specialist wine retailer warned that a dry spell in February sales had flattened full-year profits. Chief executive Steve Lewis said that trading conditions since the more buoyant Christmas period have been “challenging” and that with just two weeks to go until its year-end, it now [...]
Best of the Brokers for 20 March 2014 March 19, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ROLLS-ROYCE UBS has reversed its view on the engineering giant, moving from a “sell” to “buy” and hiking its target from 900p to 1,160p. The broker believes the firm’s cash conversion will improve towards the end of the decade and has raised its profit forecasts [...]