Next shareholders to be treated to a £90m special dividend February 5, 2015 Britain’s second biggest retailer Next yesterday announced another special dividend of £90m in order to return surplus cash to shareholders it had originally planned to pay out via a share buyback. The clothing and homewares retailer, which has enjoyed years of stellar growth under chief executive Lord Wolfson’s watch – even overtaking Marks & Spencer [...]
Davos 2015 World Economic Forum: Top execs gather for grand old Duke of York January 22, 2015 It takes a lot to overshadow a quantitative easing programme on the scale of the one announced by the European Central Bank yesterday, but the Duke of York’s private life somehow managed it. Squeezed eight-deep into the Salon Rotary at the Belvedere Hotel, bosses from BP, Citi, Marks & Spencer and Diageo turned up to [...]
Marks & Spencer seeks customer loyalty with digital coffee app trial January 21, 2015 Marks & Spencer's chief executive Marc Bolland knows something about the power of loyalty. In his case it's shareholder (and staff) sticking with him despite three and a half years-worth of consecutive declines in clothing sales. But the business is also awakening to the fact it's quite helpful if your customers are loyal, [...]
Ex-M&S exec Simon Webster to lead Silvertown Quays regeneration in London’s Royal Docks January 18, 2015 Former Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer director Simon Webster has been appointed to lead the £3.5bn regeneration of Silvertown Quays in London’s Royal Docks. The Silvertown Partnership, a consortium of developers Chelsfield Properties, First Base and Macquarie Capital, said Webster has joined the team as managing director. He was previously managing director of The Goodman [...]
H&M dresses up warm as strong winter collection boosts its sales January 15, 2015 Hennes & Mauritz, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, yesterday reported higher-than-expected sales growth in December, helped by strong collections and colder weather after an unusually mild autumn in Europe. For Sweden-based H&M, it was the ninth consecutive month that the company, which is also benefiting from a recovering North American economy, achieved sales clearly or [...]
Why Marks & Spencer’s investors haven’t all revolted on Marc Bolland (yet) in two charts January 15, 2015 Marks & Spencer's chief executive Marc Bolland has come in for a pounding yet again, after the retailer revealed another set of dismal results last week. Like-for-likes in general merchandise, which includes clothing, fell 5.8 per cent for the 13 weeks to December 27, the 14th consecutive quarter M&S has recorded declines in this division. [...]
M&S share price tumbles as Christmas delivery woes send sale figures plunging January 8, 2015 Delivery problems over the Christmas period have been blamed for poor quarterly results at Marks and Spencers, which sent shares tumbling by more than 3.5 per cent yesterday. The firm reported that sales of general merchandise, which included clothing and homewares, fell 5.4 per cent in the three months to 27 December, while international sales [...]
Marks & Spencer share price falls as retailer records 14th consecutive quarter of clothing woes January 8, 2015 Marks & Spencer's share price fell more than 2.2 per cent in early trading, after the struggling retailer revealed below-expectations results. Online delivery delays and "unseasonal conditions" proved to be a nightmare before Christmas for Marks & Spencer, as general merchandise sales slumped for the 14th consecutive quarter. Like-for-like sales in general merchandise – which [...]
Peppa Pig maker Entertainment One splashes cash on US deal as finance boss Giles Willits talks expansion plans January 6, 2015 Giles Willits is sitting in the boardroom of Entertainment One’s offices in west London with a family of Peppa Pig cuddly toys gazing up at him. The British TV phenomenon – Peppa Pig, that is – is one of the production group’s most successful exports. But today pigs are forgotten and the group’s jolly finance [...]
M&S share price suffers after downgrade ahead of third quarter results January 5, 2015 Marks & Spencer shares fell over three per cent in mid-afternoon trading after a downgrade by investment bank Societe Generale and as it prepares to report third quarter sales figures later this week. The British retailer started the new year on the back foot after analysts at Societe Generale took the stock rating from "buy" to [...]