BEST OF THE BROKERS April 4, 2011 SERCO Morgan Stanley rates the outsourcing group “equal-weight” with a target price of 650p. The broker is disappointed by the small number of work and pensions contracts the firm picked up last week, and expects Serco’s revenues from welfare-to-work programmes to drop in the second-half of the year. While the impact on overall forecasts will [...]
M&S to add to retail gloom April 3, 2011 MARKS and Spencer, the retail bellwether, is likely to add to the sense of impending doom on the High Street when it reports a sharp drop in sales later this week. Analysts expect like-for-like sales of general merchandise – which exclude food – to have fallen by a “grisly” six per cent in the fourth [...]
Forget the Champs-Élysées: British consumers have lost their joie de vivre April 3, 2011 THERE was much fanfare last week when Marks and Spencer returned to the Champs-Élysées in Paris. But even if the French flock to the British retailer in droves, which seems somewhat improbable to us, their joie de vivre isn’t being shared by domestic customers. Like-for-like sales in the fourth quarter are expected to be off by [...]
THE TIPSTER April 3, 2011 THIS week sees a fourth quarter trading update from Marks & Spencer. The impact of the VAT hike, rising commodity prices and careful consumers will make for interesting reading. With so many others on the high street struggling, there is no real hope of a good performance from M&S. Overseas ambitions may well help in [...]
M&S returns to France April 1, 2011 Marks and Spencer will return to France this year with stores in Paris and its first international website, it announced today. The new website will be in French and is set to trade in Euros. A new store will be opened in Champs-Elysees, central Paris, in the next few months and will sell both womenswear [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 31, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES TOPAZ POSTPONES $1.7BN FLOTATION Topaz Energy & Marine, one of the biggest oilfield service companies in the Middle East, has pulled its $1.7bn flotation in London less than a month after announcing its intention to list, becoming the latest corporate victim of the civil unrest sweeping the region. Oman’s Renaissance Services blamed the [...]
Dixons warns on profits for second time March 30, 2011 DIXONS Retail, the owner of Currys and PC World, yesterday said it would slash costs as it issued its second profit warning in three months. The firm said consumer confidence had deteriorated since the start of the year, especially in the UK and Ireland, hitting sales of big ticket electrical items such as flat screen [...]
FTSE rally continues despite earnings woes for retailers March 30, 2011 THE FTSE 100 closed higher for a sixth consecutive session yesterday, its best run since August 2010, as investors ditched retailers over earnings worries in favour of growth sectors such as industrials and mining. Dixons issued a profit warning and gloomy outlook as a survey from the CBI showed the underlying trend for retail sales [...]
Burberry in deal to launch sales in Saudi March 28, 2011 LUXURY UK brand Burberry has agreed a joint venture with Saudi-based retailer Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair to market and sell its products. Alhokair will hold a 40 per cent stake in the new company, though the value of the deal was not disclosed yesterday. Shareholders reacted well to the news, with Burberry one of the best [...]
FTSE rallies on strong corporate news March 25, 2011 Strong corporate earnings data have pulled stocks back to levels prior to Japan’s earthquake and tsunami crisis today despite fresh unrest spreading in the Middle East. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.34 per cent at 5,900.76 as traders bought into undervalued stocks and positive broker notes while remaining unfazed by geopolitical issues. “The speed of [...]