What does the future hold for Morrisons? November 8, 2012 KATE CALVERT | SEYMOUR PIERCE The recent share price underperformance had anticipated a weak update and indeed, Morrisons’ update was disappointing. We expect underperformance to continue into next year as changes to its marketing & promotional strategy will take time for consumers to become aware of. CLIVE BLACK | SHORE CAPITAL The recent market share [...]
Morrisons sales fall in challenging market November 8, 2012 Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket Morrisons this morning posted a 2.1 per cent drop in like for like sales over the 13 weeks to 28 October, hurt by fragile consumer confidence. Total sales excluding fuel fell 0.4 per cent over the period. “With consumer confidence still fragile and high levels of promotional activity a persistent feature of [...]
Sainsburys ups market share as Morrisons lags November 6, 2012 J SAINSBURY, Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group, has lifted its market share, helped by investment in its cheaper own-brand products, industry data showed yesterday. Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said Sainsbury’s sales rose 6.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 28 October, increasing its share of the UK grocery market to 16.8 per cent from 16.4 [...]
Hughes shrugs off sack talk as QPR stay winless November 4, 2012 QPR 1 vs READING 1 QUEENS Park Rangers boss Mark Hughes insists he is still the man to turn around the Hoops’ fortunes, despite leading the club to their equal worst ever start to a top flight season. Kaspars Gorkss put Reading 1-0 up after a quarter of an hour of yesterday’s clash, and although [...]
Best of the Brokers November 1, 2012 BARRATT Goldman Sachs has cut its recommendation on the homebuilder to “neutral” from “buy” following recent rises in its share price. It moved its target price to 235p from 210p. N BROWN Peel Hunt has raised its target price for the fashion and homewear retailer to 375p from 340p, maintaining its “buy” recommendation. It cites [...]
Direct Line cuts 70 jobs in top management October 29, 2012 DIRECT Line yesterday announced plans to cut 70 senior management positions as it looks to make substantial cost savings. The insurer said that as a result of the changes Jonathan Davidson, chief operating officer, and managing director Sheree Howard, have “decided to leave the organisation”. The news follows last month’s announcement that it would sack [...]
Dev Secs cuts half-year losses October 23, 2012 DEVELOPMENT Securities yesterday said it has reduced its half year loss to £0.7m from £1.3m the same time last year and said it was optimistic about its strategy of realising gains from its property portfolio. The developer said it had generated returns of £11.9m in the six months to 31 August from disposal of assets [...]
Morrisons FD joins The Hut Group October 15, 2012 Richard Pennycook, Morrisons’ outgoing finance director, is the latest high profile executive to join the board of Hut Group, fuelling further speculation that the fast-growing retailer is gearing up for an IPO. The firm, which counts retail veterans Sir Stuart Rose and Sir Terry Leahy among its backers, said Pennycook will join the board immediately. [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs October 15, 2012 Alvarez & Marsal Taxand The tax advisory firm has appointed Stephen Labrum as a managing director and global head of transfer pricing. He joins after 13 years at Ernst & Young, where was a transfer pricing partner. Allianz Global Investors The asset management firm has appointed Andy Wiggins to the newly-created role of head of [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs October 14, 2012 Royal Bank of Scotland John Shelley has joined RBS as chief risk officer, Asia Pacific, for all RBS businesses in the region. Shelley began his banking career with NatWest and RBS in the UK, and he has previously worked for Coutts Private Banking in Asia and has since held a number of senior roles with [...]