London Report: William Hill and retailers weigh the FTSE down January 9, 2014 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 fell yesterday and underperformed shares in southern Europe, as a rise in the pound against the euro hampered prospects for the index’s exporters and most retailers fell after weak Christmas updates. The FTSE erased gains in the afternoon as the pound rose to its highest in a year against the euro on [...]
Food retailers are getting crushed this morning January 9, 2014 It's not been a great morning for the supermarkets. Food retailers Ouch!!!! pic.twitter.com/OZwHAdNE1P — Alastair McCaig (@AMcCaig_IG) January 9, 2014 Morrisons, the third biggest grocer on the FTSE 100, is leading the index lower after an shock Christmas update – like-for-like sales were down 5.6 per cent. Shares have fallen over five per [...]
2014 brings bad news for Britain’s supermarkets January 9, 2014 Tesco has announced a disappointing set of results for the Christmas and New Year period. In the UK like-for-like sales were down 2.4 per in the six weeks to 4 January. Group sales for the period fell by 1.2 per cent. Chief executive Philip Clarke commented: We continued to invest in the most compelling offer [...]
Supermarket retailers Waitrose and Co-op see mixed fortunes January 8, 2014 THE FESTIVE trading period produced mixed fortunes for supermarket retailers Waitrose and the Co-operative, which is fighting to turn itself around after a dire year for its banking arm. The Co-op’s food arm, which has been steadily losing market share, gained some respite after posting a one per cent rise in like-for-like sales in 13 [...]
Analyst Views: What was your reaction to Sainsbury’s third quarter statement? January 8, 2014 GRAHAM JONES | PANMURE GORDONA very difficult October and November was made up by strong Christmas trading..we continue to view Sainsbury’s as the best placed of the UK food retailers, but our caution on the short-term sector outlook holds us back from having a more positive recommendation on the stock. JAMES GRZINIC | JEFFERIESKantar data [...]
London Report: Investors take punt on banks to drive FTSE up January 7, 2014 THE UK’S blue chip share index rose to a one-week high yesterday, with gains in financial stocks pushing the FTSE 100 towards major technical resistance levels. Lloyds rallied three per cent, as investors bought the stock on expectations that the bank will start paying dividends this year and that it will benefit from a recovering [...]
Inside Track: My top tip for 2014: Deutsche Post will buy Royal Mail December 18, 2013 IT wouldn’t be the final column of a calendar year without some predictions for the next 12 months. Here are my top three: Royal Mail will complete a journey from being wholly-owned by the UK state to wholly-owned by a German enterprise within little more than 12 months. Deutsche Post won’t get it delivered cheap, [...]
BP makes major oil discovery in Gulf of Mexico December 18, 2013 Oil giant BP has announced this morning that it's made a "significant discovery" in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This is the company's third discovery in recent years – it announced findings in 2006 and 2009 – but is its largest discovery in the region since the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010. It may well reignite the heated [...]
Supermarkets slump as half of UK shoppers head to discounters December 17, 2013 FOR THE first time ever, more than half of the UK shopped in either an Aldi or Lidl in the last three months, putting pressure on bigger retailers as the shift toward discount shopping continues unabated. Sales at Aldi surged by 30.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to 8 December while its smaller discount rival [...]
Supermarket fuel war reignites as Tesco and Asda drop prices December 17, 2013 THE SUPERMARKET fuel price war sparked off once again yesterday, after two major chains introduced new price cuts, effective from this morning. Tesco and Asda are both dropping the price of petrol by up to 2p per litre and diesel by 1p per litre. Spokespersons from Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s confirmed yesterday that they were not [...]