JD Sports shares rise as King of Trainers hikes full-year profit guidance December 3, 2015 JD Sports have climbed by more than two per cent after the sportswear retailer revealed that full-year profits are likely to beat current City expectations. The so-called King of Trainers said the strong performance it enjoyed in the first half of the year, when it reported a 10 per cent rise in like-for-like sales, had continued [...]
Barclays is selling its Italian retail banks to Mediobanca’s CheBanca! business December 3, 2015 Barclays is about to offload its Italian retail banking operations, the company announced today. It will sell its network of branches, amounting to 89 in total, to CheBanca! – a unit of Italian investment firm Mediobanca. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year, and is part of Barclays' [...]
Morrisons is kicked out of the FTSE 100 after nearly 15 years at the top, along with Meggitt and G4S December 2, 2015 Supermarket chain Morrisons has been kicked out of the elite ranks of the FTSE 100 after nearly 15 years, joining other fallers including Meggitt and G4S. The London Stock Exchange’s quarterly review of the index confirmed that the grocer has fallen to 109th place in the ranking of the UK’s largest companies. Morrisons’ shares closed down 0.2 [...]
Greene King share price jumps as profits rise and Spirit integration takes place “ahead of plan” December 2, 2015 Brewery Greene King had a strong six months to mid-October, after successfully integrating its latest purchase into the business. The figures During the 24 weeks to 18 October, Greene King's pre-tax profit rose by 46.9 per cent to £121.3m, driven mostly by its acquisition of pub group Spirit Pub Company for £774m in July. It [...]
Good health cheers Dow at month’s start – New York Report December 1, 2015 Health and consumer shares bounced back yesterday while car sales suggested upbeat growth in November, giving the markets a positive start to December. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 168.43 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 17,888.35, the S&P 500 gained 22.22 points, or 1.07 per cent, to 2,102.63 and the Nasdaq Composite added 47.64 [...]
Minority Game: What stock investors can learn from the failure of Black Friday December 1, 2015 Black Friday has come and gone, but the massive surge of shoppers which was anticipated in much of the media failed to materialise. Many retail outlets were quieter than a normal Friday. In contrast, internet shopping went wild. Amazon had its biggest ever day in the UK, selling over 7m items. Argos and John Lewis [...]
Topps Tiles profits rise by a fifth as homeowners go on shopping spree December 1, 2015 Topps Tiles said profits jumped by a fifth last year, thanks to a surge in people doing up their homes and the retailer’s own efforts to modernise its brand and its stores. The FTSE 250 retailer reported a 19.3 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to £20.4m in the year to 3 October. Revenue rose [...]
Black Friday Cyber Monday 2015 UK sales figures are in: UK shoppers spent £3.3bn over the weekend December 1, 2015 Start popping those corks – Black Friday was just as big as everyone had hoped it would be. Black Friday cracked the £1bn sales mark for the first time ever and total sales over the shopping weekend totaled more than £3bn. In fact, shoppers spent £1.1bn, according to IMRG and Experian, which totted up the figures. That number comes [...]
Shares in Home Retail rally over Homebase bid rumours December 1, 2015 Shares in Home Retail Group rose more than three per cent yesterday on the back of reports that the former boss of Garden Centre Group is considering a bid for Homebase. Nicholas Marshall, who stepped down as chief executive of the rival garden retail chain – now called Wyevale Garden Centres – in 2012, told [...]
Christmas trees could be cheaper to import this year thanks to falling oil prices and a weaker euro December 1, 2015 Forget about cheap fuel, Christmas trees could be a bargain this year, thanks to falling oil prices and a weaker euro. The currency in two of the biggest Christmas tree-producing nations, Denmark and Norway, is weaker at the moment, which means British Christmas tree importers will get more for their money. The Danish krone is pegged to the [...]