Britain must try to sail beyond the Brexit debate in order to find the stars September 2, 2019 Sadly, many of the great quotations in history are simply not accurate. One of my favourite apocryphal quotes is (wrongly) credited to Sir Francis Drake, supposedly written just before the intrepid explorer set off on the Golden Hind on his dazzling circumnavigation of the globe. Drake is supposed to have said: “Disturb us, Lord, when [...]
Travellers have reservations about Hostelworld August 21, 2019 Hostelworld, the hotel-focused online booking platform, has reported a drop in revenue for the first half of this year, as summer appetite from holiday-goers disappointed. Revenues tumbled from €42.6m (£39m) in the first half of 2018 to €38.8m during the first six months of 2019. Gross bookings for the company fell by four per cent, [...]
Sainsbury’s shares lifted by strong performance but hottest day fails to revive flagging grocery sales August 20, 2019 Sainsbury’s led FTSE 100 risers this morning following the news the supermarket had put in its strongest performance since November 2017. The supermarket put in the strongest performance of all the big four grocers, but still saw its market share slip 0.6 per cent over the past 12 weeks, according to Kantar data released this [...]
Sheffield United preview: Blades bringing overlapping centre-backs to the Premier League August 8, 2019 Overlapping centre-backs. To those well versed in the basics of football tactics it sounds incongruous, like something experimentally toyed with on Football Manager, or conjured up by an over-ambitious Sunday league side. But this season it is a legitimate approach which will be seen in Premier League grounds all across the country. That’s because Sheffield [...]
Ocado bags sales jump amid decline in supermarket sector July 23, 2019 Ocado has posted a double-digit rise in sales over the last quarter as it defied an overall decline in the supermarket sector. The online retailer boosted its sales by 11.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to 14 July, stealing a larger chunk of the competitive grocery market. Read more: Sainsbury’s sales slip in ‘tough’ [...]
Who joins Lloyds Bank on this list of cheap UK shares to buy? July 22, 2019 By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. Performance of UK-exposed stocks is at an eight-year low and this is the cheapest region around. Cheap-looking UK-focused stocks were in the spotlight as asset managers increasingly turn their attention to Europe in the face of darkening skies for global equities. The attraction of European equities was highlighted by UBS in an [...]
Ocado, Dunelm and Superdry show there’s always winners & losers in retail July 10, 2019 It’s not all doom and gloom in retail. Whilst we have certainly seen a downturn on the high street, there are winners as well as losers. Next shares are among the best performers on the FTSE in 2019, up 30% so far. And they’re not alone in outperforming the market despite the trouble on the [...]
ii view: Sales retreat at Sainsbury’s July 8, 2019 By Keith Bowman from interactive investor. Tough comparatives have impacted results for this supermarket, but that is no surprise. First quarter trading for 16 weeks to 29 June 2019 Total sales down 1.2 per cent (excluding fuel) Like-for-like sales declined 1.6 per cent (excluding fuel) Grocery sales fell 0.5 per cent General merchandise sales down 3.1 per cent [...]
Sainsbury’s cuts market share decline as Aldi and Lidl soar June 25, 2019 Sainsbury’s has cut short the decline in its market share as discount rivals Aldi and Lidl continue to boost sales. Customer spend at Sainsbury’s dipped 0.6 per cent in the three months to 16 June, an improvement on the 1.2 per cent decline in the previous period following its failed merger with Asda. Read more: [...]
Morrisons and Amazon: Retail’s newest BFFs June 14, 2019 By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. Extending its relationship with the world’s biggest retailer is shrewd business by Morrisons’ CEO. The quiet revolution at Morrisons (LSE:MRW) under chief executive David Potts continues to impress after the supermarket chain extended its partnership with online giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). Whereas its rivals have looked to grow through consolidation – with Tesco (LSE:TSCO) buying Booker and Sainsbury’s (LSE:SBRY) trying to [...]