Marks & Spencer poaches John Lewis finance chief Helen Weir November 17, 2014 MARKS & Spencer has poached Helen Weir from John Lewis to become its news finance director. Weir will succeed Alan Stewart, who quit M&S in July to join Tesco, and was fast-tracked into the job in September, when Tesco discovered a black hole in its accounts. Weir has been CFO at John Lewis since 2012 [...]
FTSE buoyed as Draghi speech reverses trend – London Report November 17, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index turned positive late yesterday after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said unconventional monetary policy measures could include buying sovereign bonds. Draghi also told the European Parliament the ECB will continue to do “whatever it takes” within its mandate to save the euro and that the single currency was irreversible. The [...]
M&S poaches John Lewis finance director Helen Weir November 17, 2014 Marks & Spencer has appointed John Lewis finance director Helen Weir as its own chief financial officer. In a statement posted this afternoon, the retailer said Weir has yet to confirm a start date. M&S' previous finance director, Alan Stewart, left suddenly in September to take up his new role at Tesco several months earlier [...]
Soaring Tesco helps FTSE but Serco plummets – London Report November 10, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index yesterday advanced to a five-week high as investors bought into the consumer staples and retail sectors, with ailing supermarket group Tesco leading the gainers. The stand-out mover of the day, however, was mid-cap services outsourcer Serco, whose shares fell 32.2 per cent to 215p after saying it planned a rights issue [...]
John Lewis, M&S, Debenhams – the best Christmas TV adverts of 2014 November 7, 2014 Alright, so there's still a month and a half until the big day – but settle in, because Christmas ads have begun to grace our screens, and they're going to be around for the next 47 evenings in. You might as well become acquainted. First up, we had the big one: John Lewis' much-awaited Christmas [...]
John Lewis Christmas advert 2014: Monty the Penguin is likely to sell out and Tom Odell’s cover of John Lennon’s Real Love is a contender to top the festive charts November 6, 2014 Monty the penguin has been released into the wild… but it looks like he won’t be there for long. The cute character and star of John Lewis’ highly anticipated Christmas ad, which will either bring a tear to your eye or make you feel nauseous depending on your disposition, is proving popular already. Merchandise featuring [...]
Marks & Spencer sees food sales spark share price rally November 5, 2014 Marks and Spencer shocked markets yesterday with unexpectedly strong sales, driven by its food business and – until the warm weather in September hit sales – robust clothes results. Investors had been worried that the group would follow Next and Tesco with poor results, but instead flooded back into the stock. The share [...]
Is today a turning point for Marks & Spencer’s share price? November 5, 2014 Marks & Spencer's share price has soared 8.3 per cent this morning, suggesting that investors were pleasantly surprised by its better-than-expected results. Although it marked its 13th quarter of declines, the 3.4 per cent drop in clothing was lower than consensus. Analysts this morning are suggesting this could be, if not the beginning of [...]
Marks & Spencer share price leaps, despite 13th consecutive fall in clothing sales November 5, 2014 Shares in Marks & Spencer opened more than eight per cent higher this morning, after it posted expectation-beating half-year results – even though group profits before tax fell 0.4 per cent on the same period last year. In the the 26 weeks to 27 September, like-for-likes in clothing and general merchandise fell 2.2 per cent [...]
Marks & Spencer’s half year results – here’s what to look out for November 4, 2014 Marks & Spencer is due to report its first half results tomorrow morning, and the consensus is that it will be another gloomy one for the venerable British retailer. Analysts are saying the 770-store retailer will have racked up a 3.7 per cent decline in general merchandising like-for-likes during its second quarter. If [...]