Invasion of the smart machines January 30, 2011 MY house isn’t smart enough. To get inside it I have to open the door myself. With a key. When I walk in, a digital voice doesn’t greet me, realise I’ve had a bad day and tell me a joke to cheer me up (I’m imagining a soothing voice like Hal from 2001: A Space [...]
“Excellent” Christmas puts Marston’s ahead again January 28, 2011 Pub landlord Marston’s has delivered another warming trading update, beating sales and profit expectations in its three divisions. Marston’s, which owns and manages pubs and brews its own beer, said customers turned out to celebrate Christmas despite the snow and ice, with food sales the clear driver of its strong results. Like for like sales [...]
Vodafone drags on the FTSE despite strong insurer gains January 27, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 share index closed slightly lower yesterday, after a dip in index heavyweight Vodafone, dented by weak results from AT&T, offset a surge in insurers following positive broker comment. The FTSE 100 closed down 4.13 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,965.08, having added 0.9 per cent the previous session. Vodafone, the company [...]
3i doubles its investments January 27, 2011 3I RAMPED up investments in the final quarter of last year to hit a total of £510m in the last nine months of 2010, the listed private equity firm said yesterday. The figure was more than double the investment made in the same period in 2009, its interim management statement said. Buyout deals made up [...]
M&B sales rise fuelled by food January 27, 2011 Pubs and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers said it had seen strong trading over the Christmas period, boosted by food sales, but remained cautious on the outlook for consumer spending. The company, which has over 1,600 pubs and restaurants and whose chains include Harvester, All Bar One and Toby Carvery, said like-for-like sales in the [...]
FTSE left lower as investor confidence knocked January 27, 2011 The FTSE lost traction this afternoon after a credit rating cut on Japan knocked investor confidence from the market open, and poor results from fashion chain H&M saw retailers sold. The FTSE 100 closed down 0.07 per cent or 4.13 per cent at 5,965.08 with miners giving up earlier gains to allow steady asset management [...]
House prices drop in January January 27, 2011 House prices in England and Wales fell for a seventh month in a row in January, dropping 2.2 per cent from a year earlier, property data firm Hometrack said. The monthly survey of more than 5,000 estate agents and surveyors showed prices slipped 0.5 per cent on the month, slightly more than December’s 0.4 per [...]
WH Smith in margin boost January 26, 2011 WH SMITH said yesterday a drop in sales over Christmas had been offset by a rise in profit margins. Sales in the two months to 22 January dropped four per cent at the newspaper, stationery and book chain. Like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of new store spaces, fell by seven per cent. The [...]
Profits surge at Starbucks January 26, 2011 COFFEE giant Starbucks posted a 35 per cent rise in operating income yesterday, which nevertheless fell short of analyst forecasts for the full-year as the rising cost of coffee continued to dent margins. The world’s largest coffee chain has seen wholesale coffee prices increase by nearly three-quarters since last summer – due to poor weather, [...]
WH Smith sales drop – but margins improve January 26, 2011 WH Smith said higher profit margins offset a bigger-than-expected fall in sales over Christmas, due to disruptions caused by severe winter weather. The newspaper, books and stationery group said sales at town centre stores open over a year fell seven per cent in the eight weeks to 22 January, excluding entertainment products, which it plans [...]