ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT IS DRIVING THE ADVANCE OF ASOS IN A TOUGH CONSUMER ENVIRONMENT? January 19, 2011 PHILIP DORGAN | ALTIUM SECURITIES With the launch of the US website going well, ASOS has accelerated its growth, as expected and management has reinvested margin gains in the offer, again, as expected. We are maintaining our ‘Hold’ recommendation. We are bullish that ASOS will hit its sales target, but think that the short-term outlook [...]
Credit fears for HMV send shares lower January 19, 2011 SHARES in HMV Group plunged yesterday after the music and book retailer confirmed some of its suppliers have had levels of credit insurance cut. A shadow has been cast over HMV since it issued a profit warning earlier this month with store closures ordered in an attempt to cut costs. The share price sank by [...]
William Hill in lift from online betting profit January 19, 2011 BOOKMAKER William Hill has said its annual operating profits are set to be at the top end of forecasts. It reported strong revenue growth in the final three months of 2010, in part thanks to a big jump in online business. Web-related revenue grew by a quarter compared with a year earlier, while retail revenue [...]
Pearson hikes profit outlook for 2010 again January 19, 2011 PEARSON continued its blistering run of form yesterday, raising its 2010 profit forecast for the second time in three months. The group, which owns Penguin and the Financial Times, said it now expected to report operating profit for 2010 of around £850m, an increase of around 20 per cent. The firm says its improved outlook [...]
Nintendo shows off new 3DS January 19, 2011 NINTENDO yesterday announced it will release its much anticipated 3DS in Europe on March 25. The handheld console will feature one 3D screen and one touch-screen, as well as a motion sensor, a gyro sensor and the ability to take 3D photographs. It will also allow users to download games from a platform similar to [...]
Speakeasy cocktails come to Chinatown January 19, 2011 WHILE the new year has already seen a fresh batch of new London openings, one of the most original happened just before Christmas with the small but extremely endearing Parisian import, the Experimental Cocktail Club (www.chinatownecc.com). Touching down in Chinatown, an unusual destination address for discerning cocktail aficionados, ECC is nestled innocuously amongst the dim [...]
Apple soars over forecasts to $6bn quarterly profit January 19, 2011 Apple delivered a record quarterly $6bn (£3.8bn) net profit for the three months to Christmas after trading in the US closed last night. The maker of iPhones, iPads and mac computers generated its highest-ever revenues of $26.74bn and earnings per share of $6.43, nearly double the $3.67 generated in the same quarter a year earlier. [...]
Asos sales beat forecasts January 19, 2011 British online fashion retailer ASOS forecast year profit in line with market expectations after sales growth accelerated in its third quarter. ASOS, which targets internet-savvy 16 to 34 year old women looking to emulate the designer looks of celebrities like Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and Alexa Chung but at a fraction of the price, said [...]
Wetherspoon sales growth accelerates January 19, 2011 JD Wetherspoon has reported accelerating sales growth in the second quarter of its fiscal year and said it was confident of a reasonable performance in 2011. The pub operator, which has nearly 800 premises across Britain, said sales at pubs open more than a year rose by three per cent in the 12 weeks to [...]
HMV supplies hit by credit insurance cut January 18, 2011 TROUBLED music retailer HMV came under further fire yesterday after suppliers revealed that its credit insurers were drastically cutting the amount of sales they would insure. An internal memo from Sony showed that its credit insurers had withdrawn all cover for new sales to HMV after a meeting with HMV chief executive Simon Fox had [...]