Legal sales of cannabis net Oregon shopkeepers $11m October 13, 2015 Money may not grow on trees, but it seems to be growing on cannabis plants on Oregon in the US. In the first five days since the sale of marijuana was legalised in the state, sales have reached an estimated $11m (£7.2m). The Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association reported that $3.5m was taken in the [...]
Asda poaches Sainsbury’s executive Roger Burnley to be chief operating officer October 13, 2015 Asda has poached one of rival Sainsbury’s top executives as competition among the supermarket chains heats up. Sainsbury’s retail and operations director Roger Burnley is jumping ship to take up the role of chief operating officer at Asda, the Walmart-owned group announced this morning. The appointment comes after Asda reported its worst ever quarterly result in the 16 [...]
Royal Mail share sale: The government has missed an opportunity by excluding retail investors from this privatisation October 13, 2015 News the government has sold its remaining 14 per cent stake in Royal Mail to institutional and professional investors goes against the clear popularity and demand for retail offerings in privatisations. Registrations of interest for next year’s Lloyds Banking Group share offer are already in the hundreds of thousands. It would seem wild horses couldn’t drag [...]
Central banks: Stop the focus on inflation – CNBC Comment October 13, 2015 Based on last week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes, it seems the Fed’s decision to hold off on raising interest rates at its September meeting was not a close call. The minutes showed that the FOMC was hesitant to pull the trigger, as members remain worried about global growth risks. While most of [...]
UK retail sales bounced back in September after miserable weather hurt August spending – BRC October 13, 2015 UK retail sales bounced back in September after the miserable weather in August brought summer to an abrupt end. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG this morning show that like-for-like UK retail sales were up 2.6 per cent in September compared with the same month last year, when they had decreased 2.1 [...]
Bring me sunshine: Retailers believe weather is the main driver of consumer demand, says Met Office October 12, 2015 There is nothing that retailers like – or hate – more than to blame the weather for wreaking havoc on sales. Sausage roll-maker Greggs’ sales go soggy if conditions are too wet or too hot. Last autumn’s Indian Summer made it hard for retailers to shift jumpers and coats off the shelves. And the washout [...]
Government sells off its final stake in Royal Mail – but only institutional investors need apply October 12, 2015 The government has announced plans to sell off its final stake in Royal Mail, two years after it began privatising the company – but true to form, only institutional investors will get a chance to buy the shares. In a statement today, it said had begun the process of selling off its remaining shareholding, which [...]
Dunelm share price edges down despite new boss John Browett snapping up £200,000 shares October 12, 2015 Former Dixons chief executive John Browett has spent more than £200,000 of his own cash snapping up Dunelm shares as he prepares to take over the reins as chief executive in January. Browett, who joined the board of the homeware retailer in July, has bought 18,608 shares at £9.27 and 2,998 shares at £9.25, giving him a stake of [...]
UK household spending has a soft September – Visa October 12, 2015 UK shoppers tapered their spending last month, according to new figures published today by a credit card giant. Visa’s consumer spending index – which looks at total spending, not just that on credit cards – showed spending post a lift of 1.8 per cent in September compared with the same month last year. Despite the gain, [...]
Data will show Fed’s appetite – New York Report October 11, 2015 FIGURES out this week will give another indication regarding the appetite of the Federal Reserve to raise rates from historic lows before the end of the year. Producer prices for last month, published on Wednesday, are expected to remain negative, down 0.8 per cent year on year. September inflation data, to be released on Thursday, [...]