M&S gloomy on outlook for retailers July 13, 2011 MARKS and Spencer is seeing its market share grow with sales nudging up but warned of a tough road ahead for the retail sector. Chief executive Marc Bolland said that the freshening up of product lines had fuelled sales growth, with healthy eating ranges proving particularly successful in its food halls. Like-for-like UK sales excluding [...]
Commodities boost FTSE rise as China data elevates miners July 13, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 bounced yesterday, led by commodity stocks as economic data from China and soothing words from the US Federal Reserve raised hopes that stagnation in the global economic recovery might prove short-lived. Having fallen near five per cent over the previous three days, the mining sector rallied 1.8 per cent after China’s GDP [...]
Miners lead FTSE up as China injects confidence July 13, 2011 The FTSE 100 bounced back today despite the deepening Eurozone crisis which has seen Ireland’s credit rating downgraded to junk by ratings agency Moody’s. Miners led the fight back on the blue chip index while investors across Europe were given a boost by positive economic data from China. Its GDP rose 9.5 per cent in [...]
M&S sales rise bucks grim retail trend July 13, 2011 Retailer Marks & Spencer met forecasts with a seventh consecutive rise in underlying quarterly sales, as its older and more affluent customers cope better with a squeeze in disposable incomes. Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, which also sells homewares and upmarket foods, said Wednesday sales at UK stores open over a year, excluding VAT sales tax, [...]
Greencore to buy rival Uniq in £113m deal July 12, 2011 GREENCORE has made a £113m offer for rival food company Uniq as it paves the way for a delisting in Ireland ahead of joining the London market. The Dublin-based company, which is one of Britain’s biggest providers of ready meals, said its 96p per share offer has received the backing of Uniq’s board, which put [...]
THE TIPSTER July 10, 2011 THE majority of global equity markets are fast approaching year to date highs, but the story doesn’t hold true in Italy. The Eurozone sovereign debt worries certainly aren’t going away, Italian banks are struggling and the Mib has dropped over 6 per cent during the last week. Add to the mix the fact yields on [...]
Spencer sells Origin stake to US group July 7, 2011 ORIGIN Asset Management, a boutique fund manager backed by Icap’s Michael Spencer (pictured), was snapped up by US asset manager Principal Financial Group for $66m (£41m) yesterday. Iowa-based Principal has agreed to buy a 74 per cent stake in Origin, which manages £2bn of equity portfolios out of London for institutional clients, while Origin’s partners [...]
STRICTLY BUSINESS BRIEF ENDS VINCE CABLE’S DANCING DREAM June 28, 2011 THERE is something bothering business secretary Vince Cable – and it’s not the separation of retail and investment banking, the Greek debt crisis or even waging war on Rupert Murdoch. No – Cable is concerned his demanding day job could mean he never fulfils his dream of returning to Strictly Come Dancing for a full [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 20, 2011 PREMIER FARNELL UBS raises the electronic components distributor to “neutral” after weak first quarter results now leave less room for valuation downside. US slowdown and company-specific problems in Asia Pacific, where organic sales growth slowed from 11 per cent in the fourth quarter to fivr per cent, lead the broker to think growth will struggle [...]
Leahy invests in tech firm June 12, 2011 FORMER Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has invested £2m of his personal wealth into a British software startup. He has bought a ten per cent stake in MetaPack, a small technology firm that co-ordinates customer deliveries for several big retailers. The company counts Sir Terry’s former employer, from which he stood down as chief executive [...]