Next share price slides as it warns balmy September weather “might hit profit forecast” September 30, 2014 Next shares opened four per cent lower as the retailer warned it could be forced to lower profit guidance if the "unusually warm" September weather continues. In a trading statement posted this morning, the retailer said despite "several very strong weeks" during August's dip in temperatures, September's warmer weather "had the reverse effect". It now [...]
Tesco’s week from hell: £250m black hole, 16 per cent fall in share price since Friday September 26, 2014 Was this the week Tesco hit rock bottom? Having discovered a huge black hole in its finances, shares have fallen from Friday's closing price of 229.6p, to a low of 191.23p in early morning trading today. That's a fall of almost 17 per cent. Here's a handy, cut-out-and-keep guide to Tesco's week from hell Monday [...]
Dragon Piers Linney’s Outsourcery sees share price fall on revenue growth miss September 24, 2014 Cloud computing firm Outsourcery, led by co-chief executive and BBC Dragons’ Den star Piers Linney, saw its shares fall 7.7 per cent yesterday to 15p as investors sold stock due to partners, including Vodafone, generating revenues for the firm slower than expected. Outsourcery reported a 65 per cent jump in revenue to £3.4m as [...]
Now Standard & Poor’s puts Tesco on negative credit watch September 24, 2014 It hasn't been a great week for Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis, what with discovering a £250m black hole in his balance sheet, having to suspend four executives, and then being subjected to the humiliation of a series of regulators saying they were "keeping an eye" on the situation. Now, following in the footsteps of [...]
Tesco rushes in new finance boss September 23, 2014 TESCO has rushed in its new finance director Alan Stewart to start two months earlier than planned after a £250m profit error and new industry data yesterday showing a slide in quarterly sales plunged the retailer into further turmoil. The retailer, which had billions of pounds knocked off its share price after revealing the error [...]
Marks & Spencer finance boss Alan Stewart joins Tesco two months early following £250m profit overestimate September 23, 2014 Alan Stewart will assume his new role as chief financial officer of Tesco from today – over two months earlier than originally planned. Yesterday, the troubled retailer reported it had overstated its first-half profit expectations by £250m, leading to its biggest share price fall in 11 years. In July Stewart announced his plan [...]
Marks & Spencer’s clothing sales through Alibaba soar in China September 21, 2014 Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant which could hold the title of having the world’s biggest ever initial public offering after raising $21.8bn on Friday, has helped to boost Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) online clothing sales in China. The head of M&S’s overseas internet business, Ricky Wilson, said on Saturday that M&S is now the fastest [...]
The FTSE 100’s Twitter power-users (and its social flops) September 21, 2014 FTSE 100 companies have upped their game on Twitter according to social media agency Battenhall, sending out a total of 1.4 million tweets in the past year compared with 582,227 in 2013. The agency puts companies’ increased efforts on Twitter down to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2013 legislation, which gave firms permission to [...]
Marks & Spencer opens across Finland and Norway as part of European expansion September 17, 2014 Marks and Spencer is set to open its first shop in Scandanavia next month as it marches ahead with its European expansion. The high street retailer said yesterday it will open 15 franchise stores across Finland and Norway, with the first shop set to open in Helsinki next month. The 32,000 square feet store will [...]
Britain’s biggest companies call on Westminster for fundamental business rates reform September 16, 2014 Some of Britain's biggest businesses including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco, General Motors and Tata Steel have called on the government to rip up the current business rate regime claiming the current system is “a critical problem for all of British business”. The controversial tax delivers around £25bn to the Treasury every year, but [...]