New media star is born as DMGT sells Northcliffe November 21, 2012 DAILY MAIL & General Trust (DMGT) yesterday sold off its regional newspaper arm to a consortium led by the former chief executive of the Mirror Group, David Montgomery, in a deal that forms a new British media firm. The firm, called Local World, will consist of Northcliffe’s more than 80 papers, with 36 titles from [...]
Best of the Brokers November 18, 2012 COMPASS Panmure Gordon has a “buy” rating on the outsourcing firm and an 820p price target ahead of results on Wednesday. The broker expects eight per cent operating profit growth. WM MORRISON UBS has cut its rating from “buy” to “neutral” and slashed its target from 340p to 270p. The broker thinks the supermarket’s trading [...]
Asda sales slow as it forecasts a bleak Christmas November 15, 2012 ASDA, the UK’s second largest supermarket, reported a slowdown in third quarter like-for-like sales growth yesterday and struck a sober note in its outlook on the Christmas quarter. Like-for-like sales rose 0.3 per cent in the three months to 30 September, down from 0.7 per cent in the previous quarter and 2.2 per cent in [...]
Sainsbury wins shoppers over with coupons November 14, 2012 J SAINSBURY boss Justin King said the supermarket’s Nectar data and coupon-at-till scheme would give it the edge over rivals ahead of another competitive christmas, as it reported a rise in half-year profit. Britain’s third largest supermarket beat forecasts with a five per cent rise in first-half profit to £373m, driven by convenience store growth [...]
Asian ambition risks a Prudential departure November 14, 2012 PRUDENTIAL boss Tidjane Thiam failed in his bid for AIG’s Asian insurance arm AIA in 2010, but yesterday’s third quarter numbers show the insurer has not turned its back on Asia’s opportunities. Far from it, with the Asian part of the business showing £828m new business profit in the year to date, as against £683m [...]
Wincanton swings back to profit November 12, 2012 Supply chain company Wincanton returned to profit in the six months to September, posting pre-tax profits of £13m, up from a loss of £13.6m over the same period in 2011. Over the past six months, it has won several contracts in the retail sector, notably with B&Q and with Morrisons to operate a convenience distribution [...]
Morrisons’ top director leaves as sales worsen November 8, 2012 WM MORRISON’S chief executive admitted yesterday it had not done enough to reach out to customers after the supermarket posted a worsening decline in sales and parted ways with its commercial director. Revealing a 2.1 per cent drop in third quarter sales, Dalton Philips said it had not promoted strengths that set it apart from [...]
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 [...]