M&S sales rise bucks grim retail trend July 13, 2011 Retailer Marks & Spencer met forecasts with a seventh consecutive rise in underlying quarterly sales, as its older and more affluent customers cope better with a squeeze in disposable incomes. Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, which also sells homewares and upmarket foods, said Wednesday sales at UK stores open over a year, excluding VAT sales tax, [...]
Greencore to buy rival Uniq in £113m deal July 12, 2011 GREENCORE has made a £113m offer for rival food company Uniq as it paves the way for a delisting in Ireland ahead of joining the London market. The Dublin-based company, which is one of Britain’s biggest providers of ready meals, said its 96p per share offer has received the backing of Uniq’s board, which put [...]
M&S margins in squeeze July 10, 2011 MARKS & SPENCER gives a first quarter trading update this week, with analysts predicting pressure on margins after the retailer launched its earliest ever summer sale. Chief executive Marc Bolland is overhauling the retailer with a plan aimed at improving web sales and bringing in hundreds of new food lines. Keith Bowman at Hargreaves Lansdown [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD in association with GFT July 10, 2011 COMPANIES ● Today, Michael Page International delivers its second quarter trading update. The company was formed in 1976 by Michael Page and Bill McGregor. ● On Wednesday, Sainsbury holds its AGM. On the same day Marks & Spencer will report. It will be hoping for not just ordinary results, but… ● Also on Wednesday, J [...]
THE TIPSTER July 10, 2011 THE majority of global equity markets are fast approaching year to date highs, but the story doesn’t hold true in Italy. The Eurozone sovereign debt worries certainly aren’t going away, Italian banks are struggling and the Mib has dropped over 6 per cent during the last week. Add to the mix the fact yields on [...]
FTSE solid as investors eye US jobs data July 8, 2011 The FTSE 100 started out on the front foot today as investors awaited key US jobs data to assess the strength of the country’s economic recovery. Positive performances on Asian markets and on Wall Street buoyed sentiment in London with the non farms payroll figures to set the tone for trading later. Greece will also [...]
Spencer sells Origin stake to US group July 7, 2011 ORIGIN Asset Management, a boutique fund manager backed by Icap’s Michael Spencer (pictured), was snapped up by US asset manager Principal Financial Group for $66m (£41m) yesterday. Iowa-based Principal has agreed to buy a 74 per cent stake in Origin, which manages £2bn of equity portfolios out of London for institutional clients, while Origin’s partners [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 7, 2011 Pensions First PensionsFirst Group has appointed David Norgrove, who was chairman of The Pensions Regulator from January 2005 until December 2010, as chairman. Norgrove is currently chairman of the Low Pay Commission and the Family Justice Review Panel and deputy chairman of the British Museum. Prior to this, he spent 16 years with Marks & [...]
Booker rises above retail gloom with jump in sales July 6, 2011 BRITAIN’S biggest cash and carry wholesaler has defied the retail sector gloom with a sales lift. Booker, which runs more than 170 branches in the UK, saw like-for-like sales rise by 7.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 17 June. Non-tobacco sales were up 5.7 per cent and tobacco sales up 10.1 per cent, [...]
FTSE extends gains as talk of takeovers boosts the market July 5, 2011 THE FTSE 100 rose for an eighth straight trading day yesterday, as earnings hopes lifted Tullow Oil and bid talk boosted Reckitt Benckiser. Tullow, up 3.8 per cent, said it expected to post record first-half revenues as it ramped up output in Ghana and also said it was a few weeks away from completing a [...]