CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 22, 2012 Artesian Solutions Dr Steve Garnett has been appointed chairman of the brand surveillance software firm. He is currently chairman, Europe at salesforce.com. Garnett started his career at Oracle, prior to its initial public offering, where he was director of UK sales and vice president of European marketing and alliances. He has also served as vice [...]
Promethean sees sales plunge April 18, 2012 INTERACTIVE whiteboard firm Promethean World yesterday revealed a dramatic sales drop in its key North American market, causing its share price to tumble a further 20 per cent. Blaming “challenging market conditions”, the interim management statement showed revenues of £35.9m for the first quarter of 2012, a 14.4 per cent decline on the same period [...]
CITY VIEWS DO YOU SHOP FOR GROCERIES ONLINE? April 18, 2012 LUCY WALLCRAFT FIDELITY Sometimes I shop online for my groceries, but not always. When I do it’s because it is the most convenient way to get what I need. I mainly use Tesco if I shop online because it is the easiest to use.” SHARON GURNETT MCGRIGORS I don’t personally shop online for groceries. I’m [...]
OCADO CHIEFS FORFEIT BONUSES March 22, 2012 EXECS at online grocer Ocado will not receive a bonus this year, after the firm failed to generate a pre-tax profit. Chief executive Tim Steiner’s (above) total pay has slumped 38 per cent to £354,000 for the year to November 2011 as the company grew sales but suffered supply problems. Finance chief Andrew Bracey, who [...]
Sainsbury’s closes gap in online sales March 12, 2012 SAINSBURY’S has claimed to have become the second-biggest online grocer after its orders topped 165,000 a week. The supermarket said a 20 per cent rise in orders per week, with an annualised turnover of £750m, makes its website the fastest growing online grocery business. Overall, Sainsbury’s still ranks third behind Tesco and Asda, but the [...]
London needs somebody to gamble on an IPO March 5, 2012 WITH the Edwards vacuum technology company heading for a £1bn flotation in the US and Mayfair-based jewellery retailer Graff also preferring a Hong Kong listing to braving the UK new issue markets, only one thing is certain: the London IPO market is in a pretty bad way. Bankers that I’ve been speaking to say they [...]
Store wars fail to dent Ocado sales March 5, 2012 ONLINE grocer Ocado said the industry competition in Britain is the toughest in the world as it reassured its battered investors with a jump in first-quarter sales. The firm, which has seen its share price halve over the last year, posted a 10.9 per cent rise in gross sales to £162.1m but chief financial officer [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: SHOULD INVESTORS DO THEIR SHOPPING AT OCADO? March 5, 2012 ANDREW WADE | NUMIS Ocado has posted a solid first quarter, with sales growth of +10.9 per cent, marginally ahead of guidance… Improvements over the last quarter (and the quarter to come) will enable the business to reaccelerate sales growth. PHILIP DORGAN | PANMURE GORDON We expect that the competitive environment will get tougher and [...]
Ocado forecasts faster sales growth March 5, 2012 Online grocer Ocado posted a double-digit rise in first-quarter sales and forecast an acceleration in sales growth as the year progresses, service initiatives kick in and distribution capacity increases. The company, which mostly sells the products of upmarket grocer Waitrose via a fleet of brightly coloured vans, said on Monday gross sales increased 10.9 per [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 15, 2012 OCADO UBS has downgraded the grocery delivery service from “buy” to “neutral” due to the stock’s recent outperformance, but raises its target price from 95p to 110p due to high peer group multiples. The broker says the business has yet to prove its credentials, and says consensus forecasts are still somewhat optimistic, especially for 2013. [...]