Spurs march on but Villas-Boas faces striker headache after injury to Defoe February 3, 2013 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 TOTTENHAM manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted that he is sweating over the fitness of Jermain Defoe after the striker limped out of yesterday’s win at the Hawthorns. A second half strike from Gareth Bale earned Spurs all three points against West Brom, who played nearly half of the [...]
Tesco fightback steadies giant’s market share January 29, 2013 TESCO maintained its market share and matched market growth for the first time since June 2011, according to the latest grocery share data from Kantar Worldpanel. The UK’s biggest supermarket grew sales year-on-year by 3.3 per cent in the 12 weeks to 20 January, giving it a market share of 30.4 per cent, as its [...]
The Hut Group takes hold of cycling gear site Probikekit January 29, 2013 THE HUT Group yesterday announced it had bought Probikekit, the latest in a string of acquisitions from the internet retailer. By snapping up the firm, which counts retail veterans Sir Stuart Rose and Sir Terry Leahy among its backers, the outfit has jumped on the bandwagon of the recent cycling craze, driven by Olympic stars [...]
Strong IT spending in UK boosts Computacenter in spite of euro January 17, 2013 IT FIRM Computacenter said yesterday strong demand for services in the UK had propelled rising revenues, even as a weak euro threatened to hit turnover. The company, which operates in more than 100 countries, said in constant currency terms its revenues had increased six per cent last year, but accounting for currency fluctuations, this was [...]
Tesco and Sainsbury’s maintain share after a festive dead-heat January 15, 2013 BRITAIN’S biggest retailer Tesco and third-place grocer Sainsbury’s tied in the battle for sales growth in the key Christmas period, according to data published yesterday. Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said Tesco and Sainsbury’s both posted identical gross sales growth rates of 3.9 per cent in the six weeks ending 6 January, with market shares unchanged [...]
Best of the Brokers January 14, 2013 WM MORRISON UBS rates the supermarket “neutral” and has cut its price target by 20p to 250p following lacklustre Christmas trading figures announced last week. The analyst warns that Morrison’s cost-cutting plan is being made more difficult by underlying declines in sales volumes and cost inflation. UBS has also pared its like-for-like sales forecasts for [...]
Little Christmas cheer for retail January 14, 2013 Chief Market Strategist, Cantor Index THE official retail activity figures, which are posted monthly or at specific times like Christmas, are accurate but often indecipherable to the layman. The small print is where the message is. And the most recent figures suggest that Christmas was great for some, but brutal for others. The situation was [...]
The good, the bad January 10, 2013 THE DIVIDED state of the UK retail sector was brought into sharp focus yesterday as an upbeat Tesco and Shop Direct claimed victory in the Christmas retail wars, while Marks and Spencer suffered the fallout of a worse-than-expected festive period. Following muted performances by rivals Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, a resurgent Tesco revealed its strongest sales [...]
On the rack January 9, 2013 MARKS & Spencer was hit by a worse-than-expected drop in general merchandise sales over the Christmas quarter, the retailer was forced to reveal last night after figures were leaked after trading hours. Britain’s biggest clothing retailer said like-for-like sales at UK stores open for more than a year fell 1.8 per cent in the 13 [...]
FTSE 100 up on US earnings optimism January 9, 2013 Engineers and financial stocks led the blue chip index up in early trading, as a solid start to the US earnings season boosted investors’ appetite for stocks. Miners also advanced as investors welcomed news that Alcoa, the US’s biggest aluminium producer, forecasted a positive outlook for 2013. The FTSE 100 – trading around 0.4 per [...]