John Lewis sales boosted by TVs May 25, 2012 John Lewis, Britain’s biggest department store group, continued its run of double digit weekly sales increases, helped by wet weather, television sales boosted by the digital switchover and demand for Jubilee themed products. The employee-owned retailer has been growing sales even though official data this week said overall UK retail sales fell last month at [...]
Retail sales slide May 23, 2012 Retail sales fell at their fastest monthly pace in more than two years in April, after a record drop in fuel sales and a weather-related drop in clothing sales, official data showed. The weak start into the second quarter highlights the ongoing weakness of the economy and may raise speculation about another cash boost from [...]
M&S cuts back growth targets as profits slide May 22, 2012 MARKS & SPENCER, Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, has scaled back ambitious sales growth targets as it reported its first profit slide in three years. The group yesterday revealed a one per cent drop in underlying profits to £705.9m for the year to 31 March, slightly ahead of analysts’ forecasts of £694m. Chief executive Marc Bolland [...]
CITY VIEWS | HAS MARKS & SPENCER LOST ITS SPARK? May 22, 2012 PORTOLEIO MATTHEW CHARTIS I don’t think so. Its retail services are very good so this is just due to reduced profitability in the economy. If you compare it with Sainsbury or Tesco it is a much higher value brand and its bakery is exceptional. NATASHA RUSKINA IG GROUP No. I think this dip is just [...]
Calling all traders: One day to go May 22, 2012 David Jones is the chief market strategist of IG Index and he will be delivering a masterclass at Active Trader on financial spread betting and contracts for difference. TRADING COMMENT DAVID JONES FOR many years, trading financial markets in general, and spread betting in particular, was felt to be the reserve of City professionals. But [...]
FTSE rises fuelled by miners May 22, 2012 The FTSE 100 picked up again this morning as some of last week’s losses were recouped. Hopes that Eurozone leaders were making progress as they tackled the debt mountain engulfing the bloc helped sentiment. One of the ideas to save struggling economies is to issue eurobonds. But an OECD report warned that the fragile global [...]
M&S profit falls May 22, 2012 Marks & Spencer posted a 1.2 per cent fall in full-year underlying profit, its first decline in three years, as even its relatively older and more affluent customers were touched by the economic downturn. Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, which also sells homewares and upmarket foods, said on Tuesday it made a profit before tax and [...]
Bridgepoint spells out a £49m deal for dictation firm BigHand May 21, 2012 BRIDGEPOINT, the private equity house behind a series of high street names, has bought a dictation technology firm from Lloyds Development Capital in a £49m deal. Its Bridgepoint Development Capital arm has taken a majority stake in BigHand, which works with more than 150,000 professionals such as lawyers, doctors and accountants. As part of the [...]
Manduca in line for chairman’s role at the Pru May 20, 2012 PAUL MANDUCA, one of the City’s best-known fund managers, is set to become the new chairman of Prudential, putting an end to a five-month search for Harvey McGrath’s successor. Manduca, 60, joined the board of Prudential, the UK’s biggest life assurer, as a senior independent director in October 2010 and has been overseeing the search [...]
Marks & Spencer full-year profit expected to miss City forecasts May 20, 2012 MARKS AND SPENCER is expected to become the latest retailer to scale back on its growth targets when it posts preliminary full-year results tomorrow that are forecast to fall short of expectations. Two years ago, Britain’s biggest clothing retailer set itself an ambitious target to increase its sales by between £1.6bn to £2.5bn a year [...]