Blacks sales in festive rise January 4, 2011 BLACKS Leisure said it had been boosted by sales over the festive period with total sales in its outdoor business up 12.9 per cent in December. Blacks confirmed that it is still in talks with parties – which it has not named – about a possible takeover of the company. Like-for-like sales were up 10.2 [...]
Swedish, swift and very swish January 4, 2011 THIS is the first Saab to be launched since GM handed the brand over to Dutch supercar maker Spyker, and one that gives a flavour of what Saab might look like in the future. It’s been a long, long 13-year wait since the previous 9-5. Thankfully this one is a lot more attractive and slick [...]
FTSE hits 31-month high on first close of 2011 January 4, 2011 LONDON saw a storming start to 2011 as the FTSE moved above the 6,000 level in the year’s first trading session to close at a 31-month high. The FTSE 100 moved up 1.9 per cent or 113.93 points to close at 6,013.87, its highest level since June 2008, buoyed by rises on US and European [...]
Blacks Leisure boosted by festive sales January 4, 2011 Blacks Leisure said it had been boosted by sales over the festive period with total sales in its outdoor business up 12.9 per cent in December. Like-for-like sales were up by 10.2 per cent. Blacks confirmed that it is still in talks with parties – which it has not named – about a possible takeover [...]
Fare hike hits commuters January 3, 2011 COMMUTERS returning to work following the Christmas break have been hit with a fare hike of up to 13 per cent on annual rail season tickets. Rail passengers in London and the South East are facing increases as high as 12.8 per cent on some high-speed lines. Yearly tickets will increase across the country by [...]
JJB Sports to ask for £50m January 3, 2011 TROUBLED retailer JJB Sports is expected to try and raise a further £50m from shareholders, according to reports over the weekend. The company has already tapped investors for £31.5m and asked its lender Bank of Scotland to waive imminent covenant tests on a £25m loan. Shareholders including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Invesco Perpetual [...]
Next update set to show snow losses January 3, 2011 SEVERAL consumer bellwethers are due to reveal Christmas trading figures this week, with Next, Domino’s Pizza and Clinton Cards kicking off the first reporting season of the year. Clothing retailer Next is due to reveal in a trading update on Wednesday how snow disruption and consumer spending pressures have affected sales over the 24 weeks [...]
Pessimism reigns but FTSE is set to disagree January 3, 2011 So hello and welcome to 2011. On the first day of the year I spent a few hours watching the Back to the Future trilogy, and having seen the predictions for the months ahead I wondered if I shouldn’t jump in the DeLorean and fly straight to 2012, just in time for the Olympics. It’s [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 3, 2011 ALTERIAN Panmure Gordon’s latest “buy” rating for the marketing campaign management firm could stick, given the pace of the sector. The broker notes several “nifty’” new products launched by the company as well as operational momentum, at a time when mergers and acquisitions in the marketing software segment “continues apace”. MELROSE RESOURCES Collins Stewart rates [...]
PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE YEAR OF THE GRISLY KILLER POLICY RABBIT January 3, 2011 IT seems you can hardly call yourself an analyst these days without issuing a long list of annual predictions, and Societe Generale’s Michala Marcussen keenly threw his hat in the ring yesterday. But while his SocGen colleague Dylan Grice analyses “Popular Delusions” in his regular note, Marcussen went for the more unusual theme of “Policymakers and [...]