Likely non-runners make Irish pair attractive in Albert Bartlett Hurdle February 16, 2012 WITH only 24 days to go until the start of this year’s Cheltenham Festival, the majority of ante-post markets are beginning to reach a stage of maturity where there may be better value waiting until the day. That said, the next 48 hours or so will see the reputations of many well-fancied hopes either seriously [...]
Tesco’s market share takes a fresh tumble February 15, 2012 TESCO endured a double blow yesterday, as it suffered a fresh drop in UK market share in the latest Nielsen figures, and set a leaving date for its long-standing director Andrew Higginson. The supermarket giant’s share of the UK grocery market fell 0.5 percentage points on a year ago in the three months to 4 [...]
Thorntons’ profits hit by weak Xmas February 15, 2012 THORNTONS’ profits took a turn for the worse in the first half of the year, crashing more than 90 per cent after the chocolatier was forced to slash prices to lure cash-strapped shoppers. Profits fell to £618,000 in the 28 weeks to 7 January, compared with £8.3m in the first half. Excluding £2.4m of exceptional [...]
Apple shoots past Samsung to nab top smartphone spot February 15, 2012 APPLE is again the top smartphone vendor in the world after selling 35.5m smartphones in the fourth quarter of last year and growing its market share to 23.8 per cent, according to research from Gartner. Samsung was hot on Apple’s heels, selling 34m out of the total 149m smartphones sold in the quarter. Around 472m [...]
Stylish descent into darkness February 15, 2012 WAITING FOR SUNRISE BY WILLIAM BOYD Bloomsbury, £18.99 **** Boyd is that rare breed of storyteller who manages to write books that are both thematically rich – nuanced and historical – and red-bloodedly gripping. The screen has a serious crush on him: his 2002 novel Any Human Heart led to an adaptation freshly garlanded by [...]
Thorntons profits tumble February 15, 2012 CHOCOLATIER Thorntons posted a lower first-half profit as it needed to discount heavily and spent more on promotional lines to attract cash-strapped consumers to its stores, and the company waived its interim dividend. The Derbyshire-based company, which has been closing some shops, said sales in its own stores declined in the first half by 7.9 [...]
Directory publisher comes up short February 14, 2012 REMEMBER the 1997 Yellow Pages Christmas advert? The one where a little boy steps on the directory to kiss a girl under the mistletoe because he is too short to reach her otherwise. These days, the Yellow Pages is tiny, a shadow of its former self, barely bigger than a paperback novel. The boy in [...]
Eurozone industrial output falls February 14, 2012 Output at factories in the Eurozone tumbled at the end of 2011, data showed, reflecting the sick European economy, but policymakers and economists expect a recovery in 2012. Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro fell 1.1 per cent in December from November, marginally less than the 1.2 per cent slide forecast by [...]
THE TIPSTER ROCKY ROAD PAVED WITH CHOCOLATE HEAVEN February 13, 2012 CHOCOLATIER Thorntons will be hoping it can keep investors sweet, when it releases its latest update this week. Its Christmas update provided little cheer, and it is somewhat hard to believe that the market for slightly upmarket chocolates has improved in any way during the post-Christmas season – even if some Britons might have turned [...]
CBI: Economic recovery will kick in soon February 12, 2012 GROWTH will restart early this year, the Confederation for British Industry’s (CBI) economic forecast predicted today, pointing to positive business survey data. The BDO optimism index, also published today, points to a rebound from the middle of 2012. However, the Institute for Turnaround (IfT) sounded a note of caution, arguing low consumer spending threatens to [...]