Sainsbury hails bumper Xmas but sales slow January 9, 2013 SAINSBURY’S yesterday hailed “a record-breaking Christmas” despite suffering its weakest growth in seven years as the grocer market battles with squeezed household income and cut throat competition. Chief executive Justin King pointed to a 32nd consecutive quarter of like-for-like growth, with sales at stores open a year up 0.9 per cent, excluding fuel in the [...]
Ted Baker unveils festive results boost January 9, 2013 TED BAKER made a seamless start to the year after yesterday announcing that mens’ tailoring helped to boost sales by more than a fifth over Christmas and New Year. Chief executive Ray Kelvin yesterday said the clothing chain “delivered a good result” over the period with retail sales up 20.9 per cent in the 8 [...]
City A.M. | Our MPC votes 7-2 against new policy January 9, 2013 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “No change – there is enough money in the economy, and liquidity measures are increasing. The recent dip in sterling will merely import more inflation into the UK, won’t bolster exports and mustn’t be helped along by even loser monetary policy. The economy is stagnating but ultra-loose money is part [...]
Best of the Brokers January 9, 2013 JOHN WOOD GROUP Goldman Sachs upgraded the oil and gas services company to “buy” from “neutral” and raised the target price by 28p to 940p yesterday, following “recent underperformance”. According to the analyst, the company contains a lucrative combination of relatively low risk, growth and high cash flow. John Wood is likely to benefit from [...]
FTSE 100 up on US earnings optimism January 9, 2013 Engineers and financial stocks led the blue chip index up in early trading, as a solid start to the US earnings season boosted investors’ appetite for stocks. Miners also advanced as investors welcomed news that Alcoa, the US’s biggest aluminium producer, forecasted a positive outlook for 2013. The FTSE 100 – trading around 0.4 per [...]
Sainsbury’s unveils rise in Christmas sales January 9, 2013 Sainsbury’s saw a record number of customers over the Christmas period, as it reported a small rise in sales over its third quarter. In a trading statement this morning, the supermarket posted an increase of 3.9 per cent in total sales over the 14 weeks to 5 January, while sales at stores open longer than [...]
Discount battle knocks margins at Debenhams January 8, 2013 DEBENHAMS’ shares took a battering yesterday after the department store group’s rise in sales this Christmas came at the expense of more promotions to lure cautious shoppers through its doors. Chief executive Michael Sharp said it had been the toughest Christmas in his 40-year career and shot down comments made by Next’s chief Lord Wolfson [...]
Prosecco adds fizz to Majestic’s festive sales in slow December January 8, 2013 MAJESTIC said Britons uncorked a record number of bottles of Prosecco this Christmas than last year and drank just as much as Champagne as the wine specialist posted a rise in sales over the period. Chief executive Steve Lewis said Prosecco sales rose 20 per cent on last year while Champagne sales were flat. New [...]
Sainsbury’s takes the lead at Christmas January 8, 2013 SAINSBURY posted the highest sales growth of the so called big four grocers in the run-up to Christmas and was the only one to grow market share, data revealed yesterday. Figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed Britain’s grocery market grew 3.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 23 December, with the strongest growth at the [...]
Analyst Views | Did Debenhams fare as well this Christmas as you expected? January 8, 2013 JEAN ROCHE PANMURE GORDON We anticipated a weak performance from Debenhams shares [yesterday], as a better than expected top line is likely to be more than overshadowed by weak gross margins…This shows that Debenhams is suffering from the extremely promotional backdrop we saw pre-Christmas and are continuing to see. BETHANY HOCKING INVESTEC The Christmas statement [...]