High inflation hits UK retail sales in July August 18, 2011 THE WEAKNESS of the UK’s consumer recovery was underscored yesterday, after official figures revealed retail sales rose by just 0.2 per cent in July. Clothing sales were particularly weak as cash-strapped households reined in their spending, the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed. Analysts had pencilled in a 0.3 per cent rise [...]
Family businesses see sales hike August 17, 2011 THE economy may be weighed down by high inflation and unemployment but family owned businesses appear to be weathering the storm. The top 10 family owned firms all increased their sales in the last year. Total sales for the UK’s biggest family-owned businesses rose 10.2 per cent to £35.5bn, driven by a strong performance from the [...]
US factory gate prices rose sharply in July August 17, 2011 Prices for core US manufactured goods in July rose at the fastest rate since January, new data shows. The US government’s index of farm and factory gate prices excluding food and energy rose by 0.4 per cent, the Labor Department said. The increase was double the expected 0.2 per cent rise. The core producer price [...]
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 [...]