SSP poaches WH Smith exec April 2, 2014 SSP CHIEF executive Kate Swann has poached one of her top former employees at high street retailer WH Smith to lead the travel concession group’s UK & Ireland business. The private equity-owned group, which owns chains like Delice de France and also runs outlets for Marks & Spencer, said yesterday that Simon Smith, managing director [...]
Marks & Spencer plans to open 250 new shops overseas April 1, 2014 MARKS & Spencer (M&S) is gunning for a 40 per cent boost in profits from international stores and hundreds of new outlets abroad in just three years, as the firm lays out a major expansion plan. Announced in Paris yesterday, the fresh strategy will mean a huge jump in the number of M&S stores outside [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 01 April 2014 March 31, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES US overseas cash pile rises to $947bn American companies have stockpiled nearly a trillion dollars of cash offshore to avoid paying higher tax bills at home, according to an analysis released yesterday. The growing overseas cash pile has also become the most visible sign of corporate America’s unwillingness to place bigger bets on [...]
Profits at Next set to overtake Marks & Spencer March 20, 2014 PROFITS at fashion and homeware retailer Next are set to top those at rival Marks & Spencer for the first time after the group rounded-off a buoyant year of sales with a strong Christmas trading period. The group, which has over 800 shops in the UK and overseas, said sales rose 5.5 per cent in [...]
Analyst Views: Do Next’s results bode well for another strong performance this year? March 20, 2014 JOHN STEVENSON | PEEL HUNT While maintaining a cautious tone regarding economic recovery, the forward guidance from Next is significantly stronger than in recent years and leaves market expectations at the bottom end of Next’s own range. Such confidence in outlook will raise pressure on competitors Marks & Spencer and Debenhams. KATE CALVERT | INVESTEC [...]
Next overtakes M&S as CEO delivers economic warning March 20, 2014 High street fashion store next had, in its own words, a great year last year. In a landmark moment, it's overtaken Marks and Spencer as the biggest clothes retailer by profits in the UK. It's upped its sales growth forecast significantly – from between one and four per cent to between four and eight per cent. [...]
Shakeup at the Bank of England could bring a hawkish surprise March 18, 2014 Sweeping changes are on the way at the top of the Bank of England, with the IMF’s Nemat “Minouche” Shafik hired as deputy governor for markets and banking, and MPC member Ben Broadbent promoted the deputy governor for monetary policy. The changes this summer will also lead to Andy Haldane becoming chief economist, and markets [...]
Morrisons’ woes wipe £2.6bn off supermarkets March 13, 2014 FEARS of a new supermarket price war wiped around £2.6bn off the combined value of Britain’s major grocers yesterday after Morrisons launched a major assault on its discount rivals. Shares in Morrisons plunged 12 per cent – to their lowest level since 2008 – after it revealed it would invest £1bn in slashing prices over [...]
London Report: Supermarket fears lead FTSE to a fifth consecutive drop March 13, 2014 BRITISH shares fell for a fifth straight session yesterday, dragged down by supermarket stocks after WM Morrison cut its profit outlook, as well as by escalating tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Morrison’s was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 index, plunging 11.9 per cent, and its revised outlook triggered a sell-off [...]
Supermarkets are getting crushed March 13, 2014 Morrisons has plummeted into the red, announcing a £176m pre-tax profit loss, having made a £897m profit a year earlier. The supermarket’s planning a £1bn property selloff over the next three years, in a bid to ameliorate the situation. It’s issued a dire profit warning, too, which has been described this morning on the BBC [...]