M&S sales in surprise lift April 6, 2011 MARKS and Spencer yesterday lifted some of the gloom surrounding the retail sector with a slim sales rise – but the company warned that times will get tougher. The chain – which had been expected to report a sales slump – was given a boost from its food section. Overall its UK like-for-like sales rose [...]
FTSE nears seven-year high as M&S boosts retail sector April 6, 2011 BANKS helped drive Britain’s top shares to a near seven-week high yesterday following a Portuguese debt auction, while Marks & Spencer rose on better-than-expected sales, lifting sentiment in retailers. The FTSE 100 ended up 34.07 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 6,041.13, its highest closing level since 18 February. Lex van Dam, hedge fund manager [...]
M&S sales in slim rise thanks to food April 6, 2011 Marks and Spencer sales were up slightly as rising food sales offset falls in other categories, it said in a trading statement. Its like-for-like sales rose 0.1 per cent in the 13 weeks to 2 April. General merchandise fell 3.9 per cent, but that was cancelled out by a 3.4 per cent rise in food [...]
…but retailers are still feeling the heat April 5, 2011 MUSIC and DVD retailer HMV plunged further into trouble yesterday as it issued a third profit warning. The embattled company saw its shares tumble by up to nine per cent, despite assurances that its credit facilities were solid. HMV warned that profit before tax and exceptional items for the full-year would be around £30m. That [...]
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 [...]
Forget the Champs-Élysées: British consumers have lost their joie de vivre April 3, 2011 THERE was much fanfare last week when Marks and Spencer returned to the Champs-Élysées in Paris. But even if the French flock to the British retailer in droves, which seems somewhat improbable to us, their joie de vivre isn’t being shared by domestic customers. Like-for-like sales in the fourth quarter are expected to be off by [...]
THE TIPSTER April 3, 2011 THIS week sees a fourth quarter trading update from Marks & Spencer. The impact of the VAT hike, rising commodity prices and careful consumers will make for interesting reading. With so many others on the high street struggling, there is no real hope of a good performance from M&S. Overseas ambitions may well help in [...]
M&S returns to France April 1, 2011 Marks and Spencer will return to France this year with stores in Paris and its first international website, it announced today. The new website will be in French and is set to trade in Euros. A new store will be opened in Champs-Elysees, central Paris, in the next few months and will sell both womenswear [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 31, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES TOPAZ POSTPONES $1.7BN FLOTATION Topaz Energy & Marine, one of the biggest oilfield service companies in the Middle East, has pulled its $1.7bn flotation in London less than a month after announcing its intention to list, becoming the latest corporate victim of the civil unrest sweeping the region. Oman’s Renaissance Services blamed the [...]
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 [...]