HSBC’s shares rise four per cent despite larger-than-expected profit slump after Brazil disposal November 7, 2016 HSBC's share price rose by more than four per cent this morning, despite a sharper-than-expected slump in profits in the third quarter – although stripping out currency fluctuations, things looked rather better… The figures Pre-tax profit at the British lender fell 86 per cent to $843m in the quarter ended 30 September, down from $6.1bn in [...]
Fever-Tree’s share price jumps more than eight per cent on sparkling rise in full-year expectations November 7, 2016 Shares in mixer maker Fever-Tree have risen more than eight per cent this morning after the group said its full-year results will be "materially ahead of current market expectations". In a brief trading update, the tonic water, lemonade and ginger beer producer said the group has continued to "perform strongly" in the second half of the year. [...]
Evans Cycles poaches Dobbies Garden Centres’ boss Andy King November 6, 2016 Evans Cycles has announced that Andy King has been appointed as its new chief executive. King was formerly managing director at Dobbies Garden Centres, the national garden retail business, and prior to that worked at Notcutts Garden Centres, The Body Shop and Mothercare. He replaces Nick Wilkinson, who left the company earlier this year. ECI [...]
M&S is braced for tumbling profits with boss Steve Rowe set to announce raft of store closures November 6, 2016 Marks & Spencer is braced to unveil tumbling profits in its interim results on Tuesday. Profit before tax is expected to have dropped by over 20 per cent to £216m according to analyst consensus, showing the scale of the challenge chief executive Steve Rowe faces. Clothing and home sales, which are measured at stores open for [...]
M&S to close dozens of stores November 4, 2016 Marks & Spencer will be closing dozens of UK stores and will cut its clothing offer in others, it's been claimed. Following reports from Bloomberg that M&S will be closing its Paris store and shops in China, Sky News has said that M&S boss Steve Rowe will announce UK store closures next week. It is expected that [...]
The UK high street gets an early Christmas present as high street sales get a boost for the first time since January November 4, 2016 Is the high street back on track? High street sales are back in positive territory after falling for the past nine months. Read more: Retailers in Mayfair and Bond Street to be hardest hit by rates hike According to data from accountants BDO, sales on the high street grew 0.7 per cent year-on-year in October. [...]
Analysts welcome a full year of growth for Morrisons November 3, 2016 Morrisons' share price was climbing this morning after the retailer said that its like-for-like sales were up 1.6 per cent in the third quarter, marking a year of positive same-store sales. Halloween sales jumped 20 per cent in the period. The company's share price was up 1.2 per cent this morning as a result, and [...]
How much would you pay for a satanic new five pound note? This eBay seller’s hoping for more than £666 November 3, 2016 Somebody with a devilish sense of humour has put a new five pound note on eBay for a cool £300,000. Why so much, you ask? It's a satanic fiver of course – the serial number is 666 making it a pretty rare number indeed. Now people are willing to shell out for some of the rarer [...]
Alibaba has a “great” quarter as more mobile users and cloud computing customers see revenues shoot up November 2, 2016 China-based e-commerce company Alibaba announced strong results for the third quarter today as positive growth of its mobile users and cloud computing ventures saw revenue up 55 per cent since last year. Shares rose more than three per cent before the stock markets opened in New York on Wednesday. The company is gearing up for more record-breaking [...]
West End retailers are expecting a £2.34bn boost from Christmas this year November 2, 2016 The West End is expecting some healthy takings at the till this Christmas – the most important time of year for retailers. The New West End Company has forecast that till receipts will rise 1.6 per cent year-on-year this Christmas, hitting £2.34bn. Average takings are expected to come to £51.1m per day during the peak period for [...]