Dixons vows cost cuts as sales fall off May 12, 2011 DIXONS Retail, owner of Currys and PC World, yesterday said the group’s annual sales had fallen but predicted that its £50m cuts programme would help to turn the business around. Sales for the year to 30 April fell two per cent as the tough consumer environment took its toll. Like-for-like sales for the group’s UK [...]
Commodities crash was predictable May 5, 2011 SO Goldman Sachs was right after all. The bank everybody loves to hate called the top of the commodities market three weeks ago; yesterday, its prediction came true, with the declines in key commodities seen in recent days suddenly turning into an almighty crash. The price of oil plunged especially dramatically, with Brent crude losing [...]
A jazz sensation comes to town April 20, 2011 THE glittering opening of Boisdale in Canary Wharf last week was one of the most exciting in the Docklands in a long while. One of the main attractions of the new Boisdale is its superlative jazz offering, in conjunction with Jazz FM and Aberdeen Asset Management. Jazz FM’s Discovery Show, supported by City firm Aberdeen [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 14, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BOSCH WARNS JAPAN CRISIS WILL SLOW GLOBAL GROWTH The impact of last month’s Japanese earthquake will cut global economic growth by a quarter of a percentage point and could put a big dent in planed increase in car production this year, the head of the world’s largest car parts supplier warned. Franz Fehrenbach, [...]
Goldman calls top of rally in commodities April 12, 2011 COMMODITY prices dipped yesterday after long-term bull Goldman Sachs advised clients to close their long positions on a basket of commodities including copper, platinum, soy beans and crude oil. Goldman’s “CCCP basket” has made a 25 per cent gain over the last four months, but the bank warned clients to take profits before an expected [...]
€14M WAR CHEST FOR WIGLEY’S FILM PLOT April 6, 2011 EACH year, the Big Curry Lunch hosted by Lord Mayor Michael Bear gets “bigger and better” according to Bear, with 800 guests from the City, Parliament and Livery Companies sitting down to three servings yesterday at the Guildhall. The annual banquet is held in aid of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, and this year’s event raised [...]
M&S to add to retail gloom April 3, 2011 MARKS and Spencer, the retail bellwether, is likely to add to the sense of impending doom on the High Street when it reports a sharp drop in sales later this week. Analysts expect like-for-like sales of general merchandise – which exclude food – to have fallen by a “grisly” six per cent in the fourth [...]
Dixons warns on profits for second time March 30, 2011 DIXONS Retail, the owner of Currys and PC World, yesterday said it would slash costs as it issued its second profit warning in three months. The firm said consumer confidence had deteriorated since the start of the year, especially in the UK and Ireland, hitting sales of big ticket electrical items such as flat screen [...]
Dixons warns on profit as UK trade worsens March 30, 2011 The UK’s No.1 electricals retailer Dixons has issued a profit warning, becoming the latest store group to report worsening trade as shoppers are hit by rising prices and government spending cuts. Dixons, which runs the Currys and PC World chains, said profit before tax and one-off items for the year ending April 30 was likely [...]
Ireland aims to woo Europe with a pledge to stick to its budget targets March 6, 2011 IRELAND’S new government will stick to the budget targets laid down in an €85bn (£73bn pound) EU/IMF rescue package as it seeks to win European partners round to giving it easier terms on the loans. Ireland’s prime minister in-waiting Enda Kenny is under huge pressure to persuade Europe’s paymaster Germany to cut the interest rate [...]