Ocado tumbles after sales slowdown May 11, 2011 OCADO led the FTSE 250 fallers yesterday, with its shares dropping over nine per cent after it admitted its sales were checked by capacity constraints. Ocado’s growth slowed from 24 per cent in its first-quarter to 18 per cent in the last three months. It says it expects sales to grow by 21 per cent [...]
HSBC drags FTSE back as investors eye inflation forecasts May 11, 2011 Banking giant HSBC sapped some of the confidence from the blue chip index today as it announced that it was aiming to slash costs by £2.1bn. The news followed a bruising start to the week for banks who have already earmarked billions for potential payouts over dubious insurance protection sales. HSBC fell 1.3 per cent [...]
New issues strive to win back trust May 10, 2011 What should we make of the London market for new issues, where private companies appeal for funds from equity investors such as BlackRock, Gartmore and the sovereign wealth houses? Currently we have the spectre of Glencore, the commodities trading group, almost effortlessly getting away an $11bn (£6.7bn) fund-raising, while smaller, less well known companies fail [...]
Waitrose takes the challenge to Ocado with warehouse opening April 20, 2011 WAITROSE is setting itself up to directly compete with Ocado, by opening a massive “virtual shop” in west London to step up the delivery of orders from its website in the capital. Waitrose will use the the warehouse in Acton to store goods ready for dispatch. The supermarket has a clause in its contract with [...]
UK companies set to unlock profit out of global growth April 13, 2011 TOM Ewing is the engaging and energetic manager of Fidelity’s UK Growth fund, which has over half a billion pounds under management. The 34 year old scours the country looking for undervalued companies that are able to tap into the increasing wealth of consumers in emerging markets. From the powerhouses of the FTSE, down to [...]
Ocado hires eBay executive April 12, 2011 Ocado has added eBay executive Doug McCallum to its board. He joins the online grocer as a non-executive director on 3 October. McCallum is currently European senior vice-president of eBay and previously ran the internet giant’s UK business for several years. Ocado chairman Lord Grade added: “Doug’s high-level background in e-commerce and IT is a [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 20, 2011 BAE Systems Paula Rosput Reynolds (pictured) has joined the defence firm’s board as a non-executive, an appointment that will take effect from 1 April. Reynolds has spent more than 20 years in the energy sector, including roles as president and chief executive of AGL Resources in 2002 and Safeco Corporation. She took on the job of [...]
WM Morrison in £32m deal to prepare ground for web war March 10, 2011 WM MORRISON yesterday announced a £32m deal to purchase a ten per cent stake in New York-based online grocer FreshDirect, as it prepares the ground to take on rivals on the web. Under the terms of the deal, Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips will take a seat on the board, and top Morrisons executives will [...]
John Lewis issues £50m retail bond March 6, 2011 THE John Lewis Partnership has issued a retail bond for its cardholders and Partners in a bid to raise £50m of funds by April. Customers who hold either the Partnership or Account cards, as well as current Partners in the employee-owned firm, can invest lump sums of between £1,000 and £10,000 into the John Lewis [...]
Ocado sales up 25pc March 4, 2011 Online grocer Ocado posted a 25 per cent rise in first-quarter sales and said it remained profitable, despite a challenging economic backdrop which has hit many retailers hard. The group, which mostly sells the products of grocer Waitrose, said it made gross sales of £146.2m in the 12 weeks to 20 February, in line with [...]