Littlewoods owner Shop Direct posts record profits thanks to mobile sales boom October 27, 2015 Shop Direct has posted a 78 per cent leap in full-year profits thanks to booming mobile sales and a surge in customers flocking to its main website Very.co.uk. The online retailer, which pulled the shutters down on its catalogue business this year, said pre-tax profits reached a record £71.7m in the year to 30 June [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Last year’s chaos at Tesco, Asda, John Lewis, Currys and Argos has put bargain hunters off October 27, 2015 Is last year’s mayhem putting a dampener on Black Friday this year? New figures would suggest yes. Black Friday sales drew shoppers in their millions last year as the American shopping extravaganza came to the UK. But the unprecedented throngs left many with a bad taste in their mouth – and this could be a [...]
West End retailers poised for £2.3bn Christmas and Black Friday 2015 shopping bonanza October 27, 2015 West End retailers are bracing themselves for a £2.3bn shopping bonanza this Christmas, with spending set to reach its highest level since 2007, as higher disposable incomes and lower prices help boost consumer confidence. London’s main shopping streets – Oxford Street, Bond Street and Regent Street – are expecting a 1.2 per cent uplift in sales [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK date: Why the crazy discount and deal day chaos is coming early this year (and will last longer) October 26, 2015 Be prepared for Black Friday to come early this year. There's a month to go until the day which brought us frenzied scenes of bargain shoppers, but one company believes retailers will begin their discounting even earlier than 27 November when it falls. "Retailers are likely to discount earlier than Black Friday but spread the offers over [...]
Sign of the times? Majestic Wine abandons six bottle minimum purchase October 26, 2015 Is this a sign of how bad things have really become for food and drink retailers? Majestic Wine, the middle classes' favourite mass booze retailer, has just ditched one of its main rules – namely, that all customers are required to buy a minimum of six bottles. Gasp. In a statement today, the company said [...]
German discounter Aldi pledges to pay all UK staff above National Living Wage October 26, 2015 Aldi has set out to trump its supermarket rivals on pay by announcing today that it will pay all UK staff "significantly" above the living wage. The discount food retailer said all UK employees will be paid at least £8.40 an hour, and £9.45 in London from February 2016. This is ahead of the government’s national living wage of £7.20 an [...]
Best of the Brokers for 26 October 2015 October 25, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com Analysts at Numis have reiterated a “hold” rating for Home Retail Group, despite interim results coming in ahead of expectations. Continuing difficulties at Argos, where profit is significantly skewed to the second half, has held the group back. Analysts said the earnings outlook [...]
Amazon, Google and Microsoft’s share prices go crazy on opening after posting strong results October 23, 2015 Amazon, Google (aka Alphabet) and Microsoft's share prices all jumped as US markets opened today, reacting to strong results posted overnight. Amazon's share price opened nine per cent up, while Google's stock soared 11.7 per cent and Microsoft's shares rose 10.2 per cent. Results posted yesterday showed online retail giant Amazon's net sales rose 23 per cent to $25.4bn (£16.5bn) in [...]
Amazon posts jump in profits as cloud sales grow 70 per cent October 22, 2015 Profits at online retailer Amazon jumped in the three months to September, the company has announced today. Amazon posted net income of $79m (£51m), or $0.17 per share in the three months September, compared to a net loss of $437m, or 0.95 cents a share, in the same period last year. Net sales were reported to be [...]
Toy story: Hamleys close to being taken over by owners who are planning department store expansion October 22, 2015 Famous London Toy shop Hamleys is close to being taken over by a Chinese retailer who wants to set up shop in more locations. C.banner International said in a statement today that it is in talks with Ludendo Enterprises, the current owner of the Regent Street giant, which is said to be the oldest toy [...]