Ocado share price jumps 8.5 per cent as Morrisons tie-up pushes sales up September 11, 2014 Ocado shares opened 8.5 per cent higher this morning after it reported a 22.5 per cent rise in gross sales for the 12 weeks to 10 August 2014. The online grocer enjoyed £231.9m worth of group sales, compared to £189.2m during the same period last year. Average orders per week rose 17.4 per cent from [...]
London Report: Retailer data to reveal strength of UK recovery September 7, 2014 THE NEWLY-MERGED Dixons Carphone will report its maiden quarterly results tomorrow in a week containing a flurry of updates for retailers. Figures for the company, whose merger only completed a month ago, will be keenly watched by investors, who will be hoping the firm’s planned synergies are starting to take effect. Other retailers due to [...]
Ocado share price slumps as City analyst slashes forecast August 28, 2014 Shares in Ocado tumbled 19 per cent yesterday after equities broker Redburn Partners took a knife to its forecasts and claimed the online grocer’s technology was less valuable than previously thought. Redburn’s retail analyst James Tracey downgraded the company from “buy” to “sell” and cut its 2015 earnings forecast by 57 per cent to £17.1m [...]
London Report: Ukraine tension and ore prices weigh on FTSE August 28, 2014 A RATCHETING up of tension in Ukraine yesterday took its toll on Britain’s top share index, knocking it back from its highest closing level in nearly two months. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Russian forces had entered his country and the military conflict was worsening after Moscow-backed separatists swept into an eastern town. The blue-chip [...]
City Views: Where do you think Tesco went wrong and what is your view on the CEO change? July 21, 2014 PAUL O’REILLY | VIRTUAL 1 I believe that Tesco should get rid of sections such as gardening and homeware. Also, Tesco was wrong to introduce auto-checkouts, as it needlessly cut of hundreds of jobs. I have no view on the CEO change other than I hope he will improve the company. RICHARD HILL-TOUT | SAUL TRUSTEE COMPANY [...]
Morrisons hands over Kiddicare to private equity group Endless July 14, 2014 Supermarket chain Morrisons confirmed yesterday it has sold its Kiddicare business to private equity group Endless Capital for £2m. The Yorkshire-based grocer bought the online baby products retailer in 2011 for £70m as part of its bid to build its online presence. However, the company announced in March that it had taken a £163m writedown [...]
Morrisons’ sale of floundering Kiddicare could come this week July 9, 2014 Morrisons is said to be on the brink of a deal to sell struggling maternity wear outlet Kiddicare to turnaround investor Endless. The likely sale, which has not yet been formalised, was reported by Sky News yesterday with the suggestion that an announcement could come as soon as the end of this week. Kiddicare was [...]
Ex-UBS analyst Rosenberger is on top at the StarMine Analyst Awards July 2, 2014 StarMine, one of the more analytical of the analysts gongs, has revealed its top names for 2014 exclusively in City A.M. Part of the Thomson Reuters Awards for Excellence programme, the StarMine Analyst Awards measure the performance of sell-side analysts based on the returns of their buy and sell recommendations relative to industry benchmarks; and [...]
Best of the Brokers for 03 July 2014 July 2, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com OCADO GROUP Deutsche Bank has upped Ocado to “hold” after six months on a “sell” rating, reducing the target price to 330p from 350p. The broker thinks while there has been a slowdown in sales growth, expectations are more realistic, and there is [...]
London Report: FTSE ends on a high on strong economic data July 2, 2014 Britain’s top share index hit a one-week high yesterday, with upbeat economic data from the US and China improving investor sentiment and boosting cyclical sectors such as banks and miners and carmakers. The FTSE 100 index closed 0.2 per cent firmer at 6,816.37 points, after climbing to a high of 6,829.49, the highest level since [...]