Inflation rises more than forecast August 16, 2011 Inflation ticked up slightly more than expected in July, the Office for National Statistics said, as banks raised fees and retailers had slashed prices in summer sales already in June. Further price increases have been expected by the Bank of England, which sees inflation peaking later this year at five per cent before falling back [...]
High street’s sales take an upturn in July August 8, 2011 BRITAIN’S ailing retail industry showed some signs of life in July, recording a 0.6 per cent rise in like-for-like sales compared to the same time last year. While total sales were up 2.5 per cent for July, the three-monthly trend of like-for-like sales remained 0.6 per cent down, with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) warning [...]
Next sales hold up with home shipping boost August 3, 2011 Retailer Next posted first-half sales towards the top end of company guidance, boosted by its online and home shopping business and showing resilience against a tough consumer backdrop. The firm maintained its full-year profit forecast on and predicted pressure from rising costs, like higher cotton prices, would ease next year. Britain’s retailers are mostly struggling [...]
Cranswick in profit alert after pork price increase July 26, 2011 CRANSWICK, the sliced meat and sausage maker, has been forced to warn it will miss profit forecasts this year after a rise in pork prices. During the first half of the year pig prices have increased from £1.33 per kg to £1.53 per kg, an increase of 15 per cent. Analysts have knocked between £6m [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 24, 2011 BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO Ahead of first-half results on 27 July, Citi rates the tobacco group as a “hold”, and lifts its target price from 2800p to 2890p. The broker also lifts its forecasts three per cent above consensus having upped its estimates for Asia to take into account a boost in the Japanese market, following [...]
Pepsi warns on US demand and cost inflation July 21, 2011 US food and drink maker PepsiCo scaled back its full-year earnings forecasts on ongoing economic uncertainty yesterday. Pepsi said performance in its North American drinks business was worse than expected, due to weakened consumer demand and intensifying competition, which has made it difficult to raise prices to offset soaring commodity costs. “Of the three factors [...]
Public spending still over half of GDP July 21, 2011 ED Miliband should be happy: Britain officially remains a state-dominated economy. For all the talk of “swingeing” cuts, public spending is set to remain at 50.1 per cent of GDP in 2011, according to the latest OECD predictions. This is an astonishing figure: more than half the economy, which by one definition means that the [...]
Public spending still over half of GDP July 20, 2011 ED Miliband should be happy: Britain officially remains a state-dominated economy. For all the talk of “swingeing” cuts, public spending is set to remain at 50.1 per cent of GDP in 2011, according to the latest OECD predictions. This is an astonishing figure: more than half the economy, which by one definition means that the [...]
Bank minutes show no sign of a rate hike July 20, 2011 DESPITE warning of even higher than expected inflation to come, the Bank of England appears increasingly reluctant to raise interest rates. Minutes of the Bank’s July meeting, released yesterday, suggest that bearish economic news has pushed the rate-setting committee even further from the first step in normalising rates. “Recent developments had reduced the likelihood that [...]
MPC says near term rate rise unlikely July 20, 2011 The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee judged that recent economic weakness had reduced the chance that interest rates would need to rise in the near term, minutes to the Bank’s July meeting showed. Committee members voted 7-2 to keep rates at 0.5 per cent, as they did in June. Bank chief economist Spencer Dale [...]