Labour’s plan for business: Government should unite profit with social purpose November 9, 2011 WHEN private equity firm NPM Capital and the current management bought out a sleepy Dutch carpet manufacturer called Desso in 2007, they were seeking to do what all successful investors do: to find a gap in the market from which they could profit. And profit they have. Following the buy out, Desso’s market share rose [...]
Prices tumble at UK’s stores November 8, 2011 PRICE wars between supermarkets are driving down the cost of food and other items, as stores fight for the attention of increasingly squeezed shoppers. Food was half a per cent cheaper last month than in September, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed this morning. Tesco has been pushing its “Big Price Drop”, while Asda’s “Price [...]
Here is the Next step for Marks & Spencer to take November 8, 2011 TWENTY years ago, the UK was in recession and Marks & Spencer had just changed its boss: some things never change. Under Rick Greenbury, M&S went on to have a good 1990s, before over-expansion led to the inevitable and painful correction, under a new management team. Twenty years on, the competition is much tougher and [...]
UK’s economic outlook reveals unsightly view November 7, 2011 ACCOUNTANCY firm BDO joins an ever-growing group warning that the UK’s economy is on the cusp of recession. In its latest business trends report, optimism levels came in below the crucial 95.0, for the first time since July 2009, for both the manufacturing and services sectors. BDO partner Peter Hemington says: “Businesses’ hiring intentions point [...]
GREECE SKIRTS SLIP AS EYES ROAM TO ITALY November 7, 2011 YESTERDAY saw the removal of some of the political uncertainty that has dogged Greece over the past week. A new coalition government is to be formed, Papandreou is standing down as Prime Minister and a general election is expected early next year. All this should be enough to ensure that Greece receives its next bailout [...]
Get your emotions in check and under control November 7, 2011 TRADING is a solitary pursuit. All that time spent watching the screen can leave traders emotionally tied up in their trading choices. Pride takes over and we can become wedded to a bad trading decision. It takes a lot of discipline to clock your own behaviour when this happens. But fear not, we’ve asked some [...]
Supermarkets vie to promote value for money November 1, 2011 WITH the economic outlook still looking bleak and consumers (as shown by YouGov’s Household Economic Activity Tracker) increasingly price conscious it is not surprising that a number of big supermarkets are keen to emphasise their value. Sainsbury’s launched its “live well for less” advertisements on 15 September and Tesco’s “Big Price Drop” campaign came out [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 1, 2011 XCHANGING Panmure Gordon has upgraded the outsourcing company from “sell” to “hold” with a target price of 70p, seeing long-term value in the business, whose shares have lost more than 30 per cent in the last three months. The broker says good progress has been made this year since the appointment of Ken Lever as [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 31, 2011 INVESTEC Goldman Sachs rates Investec “buy” with a 533p target price as it believes the wealth management group has been unjustifiably hurt by risk aversion, despite shifting its business model towards asset and wealth management, which give it more stable income streams and now constitute about half its revenues. About 70 per cent of its [...]
Weaker mining and energy prices drag the FTSE down October 31, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index fellback yesterday, led by weaker miners and energy issues, as commodity prices retreated under the influence of a firmer dollar and worries over demand from China, with banks also under pressure after recent gains. Miners and integrated oil stocks took over 30 points off the UK blue chip index, as they [...]