Best of the Brokers for 02 May 2014 May 1, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BARCLAYS UBS has upgraded the bank from “neutral” to “buy”, upping its target price from 280p to 305p. Following reports that Barclays is setting up a bad bank, the broker believes Barclays’ management is showing willingness to shift away from loss-making parts of [...]
Morrisons steps up battle with fresh price cuts April 30, 2014 MORRISONS has launched a fresh assault in the supermarket price war after unveiling price cuts on 1,200 products as part of its £1bn programme aimed at winning back customers defecting to cheaper rivals. Britain’s fourth largest supermarket said that from today it will slash the price of branded products such as Jammie Dodgers and Morrisons [...]
Ankle operation rules Townsend out of World Cup April 30, 2014 TOTTENHAM winger Andros Townsend will miss this summer’s World Cup after the club confirmed he will undergo an ankle operation today. The 22-year-old suffered the injury during a late cameo appearance in Spurs’ 1-0 win at Stoke at the weekend, though limped through the remainder of the match having been the third and final permitted [...]
Analysts predict price cuts at Sainsbury’s April 29, 2014 Analysts at Deutsche Bank issued a positive note on Sainbury’s today ahead of its full-year results next week, arguing that the supermarket group could be a relative winner in the sector compared to its rivals but warning that it will have to join them in slashing prices to stay ahead of the game. The [...]
Ex-Morrisons director calls for overhaul of board April 28, 2014 ONE OF Morrisons’ former longstanding directors has hit out at the management of Britain’s fourth largest supermarket and called for its chairman to resign. Roger Owen, Morrisons’ property director for 22 years until his retirement in 2009, has accused the retailer of poor governance, criticising the structure of the board for having just two executive [...]
Tesco steps up assault with more price cuts April 22, 2014 TESCO yesterday launched a fresh round of price cuts and slashed its online shopping charges as it steps up its efforts to stop customers defecting to its discount rivals. The retailer dropped prices on over 30 products yesterday including bacon, sugar, broccoli and some of its bread ranges. The price of six Tesco free-range medium [...]
Share slump for Snoozebox as its losses grow April 16, 2014 SHARES in Snoozebox fell out of bed yesterday after the portable hotel provider said it was raising a further £11m as its annual pre-tax losses doubled. The Aim-listed firm said that while turnover rose 80 per cent to £6.7m and margins improved in 2013, the cost of growing the business had sent losses to £9.4m. [...]
The real casualties of the supermarket price wars April 16, 2014 The threat posed by the hard discounters on Britain’s big four retailers has been well documented. Tesco’s chief executive Philip Clarke today described his discount rivals as “formidable” as he announced further plans to slash prices beyond the £200m already set aside in February. But new research shows that the biggest unrecognised casualties of the [...]
Mothercare sales slide but promises lean retail operation April 10, 2014 Baby goods retailer Mothercare has suffered a fall in like-for-like UK sales of 0.3 per cent for the 12-weeks to 29 March, according to the company's latest trading statement. Total UK sales for the troubled retailer also fell by four per cent for the same period. Mothercare also saw worldwide network sales decline by 2.5 [...]
Big four grocers all lose ground to discounters April 9, 2014 BRITAIN’S four biggest supermarket groups all lost market share over the last three months to German discounters Aldi and Lidl, with Sainsbury’s suffering the biggest drop in market share in ten years. Sainsbury’s has until this month been the only one of the big four to resist the pressure of the discounters and hold onto [...]