Blacks sales heat up after a boost from the big freeze January 11, 2010 OUTDOOR retailer Blacks Leisure has benefited from Britain’s cold snap as it reported a 12 per cent hike in sales. Blacks, which runs its own brand shops as well as the Millets chain, said it had “significantly enhanced its recovery prospects” after a restructuring with the closure of 87 loss-making stores in the fourth quarter [...]
Shoppers steer clear of the stores as the wintery weather continues January 11, 2010 HEAVY snow and ice is keeping shoppers from the stores, with retail traffic dropping around 21 per cent year-on-year since the latest snowfalls began on 6 January. Overall shopper numbers in non-food stores in the UK on Sunday, 10 January were down 14 per cent from the equivalent Sunday last year, said research company Synovate. [...]
High demand keeps house prices rising January 11, 2010 BRITONS’ unflagging demand for property is continuing to boost house prices, albeit at a slower pace than before, the latest monthly survey from the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will say today. The balance of estate agents reporting rising rather than falling prices fell back to 30 per cent in the three months to [...]
Airports operator BAA warns of tough 2010 as weather keeps 150,000 away January 11, 2010 BAA, the Heathrow and Stansted airport operator, yesterday warned it faced a tough 2010 as it revealed that bad weather had stopped 150,000 passengers from travelling through its UK hubs last month. Passenger traffic at BAA’s UK airports fell 4.2 per cent in 2009, with the number of passengers travelling in December dropping by nearly [...]
HOW WILL CADBURY’S FINAL DEFENCE AGAINST KRAFT PAN OUT? January 11, 2010 DAVID BUIK | BGC PARTNERS “Cadbury will come out with a brought-forward trading statement which will look electric. Roger Carr will dismiss Irene Rosenfeld and chew her up like a bag of nails. If she can’t improve the bid, it’s goodnight Vienna.” JEREMY BATSTONE-CARR | CHARLES STANLEY “All we’re going to get is top-line numbers. [...]
Strength in energy issues is offset by weakness in miners January 11, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index ended flat yesterday with strength in energy issues countering a sell-off in miners, weak financial issues and uncertain progress on Wall Street. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 3.83 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,538.07, having touched a 16-month intraday peak of 5,600.48 early in the session. [...]
Co-op sales surge after price war January 10, 2010 THE Co-operative Group’s like-for-like sales rose almost 5 per cent after slashing prices in a battle with its rivals over Christmas. The UK’s fifth biggest food retailer – which now has 3,000 stores after buying Somerfield last year – was boosted by a massive advertising campaign and overhaul of brands. Like-for-like sales – including VAT [...]
Blacks Leisure in winter sales boost January 10, 2010 OUTDOOR retailer Blacks Leisure has said that it has benefited from Britain’s cold snap as it reported a 12 per cent hike in sales. Blacks, which runs its own brand shops as well as the Millets chain, said it had “significantly enhanced its recovery prospects” after a restructuring with the closure 87 of loss-making stores [...]
Britain needs to rediscover how to save January 10, 2010 BELIEVE it or not but many forecasters are becoming more upbeat about Britain’s prospects for the coming year. HSBC, whose predictions are always cautious, is expecting growth of 2.2 per cent, much higher than the consensus; others are also becoming more optimistic. I remain more downbeat. But it is worth taking a look at some [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 10, 2010 THE SUNDAY The Sunday Telegraph GOOGLE BOSS WARNS UK OVER DEBT MOUNTAIN The chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, has given warning to the UK and other western governments that reducing their massive deficits will be far harder than in America because of the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. PET CHAIN SUITORS GIVEN [...]