Retail gloom as UK stays at home February 17, 2013 SHOPPERS have been deserting the UK’s struggling retailers since the start of the year, adding to gloom in the sec- tor as sales fall for the first time in years and well-established firms col- lapse into administration. Total UK retail footfall sunk 4.6 per cent over the year to January, data from the British Retail [...]
Blockbuster to close 164 shops February 13, 2013 BLOCKBUSTER, the DVD and games rental chain, is to close a further 164 stores the firm’s administrators said yesterday, putting a further 800 staff at risk. Deloitte said the stores will shut over the coming week as part of a “phased closure” as it continues to find a buyer for the business and its remaining [...]
High street red in tooth and claw February 13, 2013 IT’S simply too tough out there, said the last official tweet from @republicfashion, announcing the company’s fall into administration. With inflation still stubbornly high and the news today of real wages back at 2003 levels, it is certainly a tough market. Republic is just the latest casualty in a post-Christmas cull of the UK high [...]
The future looks cloudy for this Sauvignon Blanc February 12, 2013 bottle.opener@cityam.com Once the wine of choice, Cloudy Bay now has some real competition Whatever HAPPENED to Cloudy Bay? A few years ago the release of the new Cloudy Bay Sauvignon vintage was greeted with excitement amongst wine lovers. After all, this was a wine to celebrate – a taut yet ripe Sauvignon Blanc with real [...]
Best of the Brokers February 11, 2013 GALLIFORD TRY Panmure Gordon has raised its target price for Galliford Try from 770p to 800p and maintained a “hold” rating on the stock. The housebuilder and construction firm is set to report half-year results this month. Panmure said it expects these will show stable year-on-year sales rates. The broker said as a result it [...]
All hail the simple Ayurvedic massage February 8, 2013 My first experience of Ayurveda – a Hindu system of traditional medicine native to India – was just before Christmas, and one I’ll never forget. I was locked in a dark room in a spa (read: a shed) on a dodgy Keralan backstreet, while a mute youth covered my entire body, face and hair in [...]
Burberry board change as chief of finance quits February 7, 2013 BURBERRY finance chief Stacey Cartwright is to step down from the luxury group in a management shake-up that will also see the creation of a chief operating officer role. Cartwright, a widely respected industry figure who has been at the fashion house for nine years, is to leave in July “to pursue other interests”, Burberry [...]
Supergroup shares leap on festive sales boost February 7, 2013 SUPERGROUP chief executive Julian Dunkerton said improvements made to its product range and a better organized company helped drive a double-digit growth in sales over the third quarter and place it firmly among the Christmas winners. Shares leapt nearly 10 per cent yesterday as the Superdry owner, which was plagued by a string of setbacks [...]
Sony to put end to four year loss as yen weakens February 7, 2013 SONY has announced a dramatic fall in losses, and said it expects to post an annual profit for the first time since 2008 later this year. A combination of a weak yen and cost cutting meant losses in the final three months of 2012 were down to ¥10.7bn (£72.8m), compared with ¥158.4bn in the same [...]
Chablis is one of the toughest wines to get right – choose wisely February 5, 2013 Chablis is a pretty but inconsequential looking town just over 100km north of Burgundy. There are none of the great chateaux or domaines of Bordeaux or Burgundy here. Spend half an hour loitering in the town square and it is hard to believe this is the epicentre of one of the world’s most famous wine [...]