The good, the bad and the ugly: What the analysts say about Tesco October 23, 2014 It’s another dark day for Tesco. The supermarket's estimated £250m profit black hole was even larger than expected at £263m, £70m of which came prior to the period it initially identified as problematic. Profits collapsed 91.9 per cent as it took the hit of the accounting error, it completely ditched its forecasts, cash flow was [...]
Fashion sales dampen retail growth during warm September October 23, 2014 Fashion sales have hampered the wider retail sector in September, with warm weather driving sales down 4.1 per cent year-on-year. Month-on-month that figure was even worse: sales dropped 7.8 per cent between August and September. As a result, the retail sector as a whole saw a 0.3 per cent month-on-month drop, although sales climbed 2.7 [...]
Tesco share price: The rise and fall of a retail empire in one chart October 23, 2014 We knew it was bleak for Tesco, we were just waiting to put a figure to the despair. Now we know: the profit overstatement was understated by £13m (the final figure was £263m) and a 91.9 per cent plunge in pre-tax profits to £112 million for the first half of the year. The results are [...]
Debenhams share price dips as 21 per cent fall in profits revealed October 23, 2014 Debenhams' share price opened lower this morning, after the retailer revealed a 20.6 per cent fall in pre-tax profit for the last year. Over the 12 months to August 30, the department store chain saw underlying pre-tax profit drop to £110.3m, in line with expectations, while reported pre-tax profit fell 23.9 per cent to [...]
Homebase set to close one in four of its shops October 22, 2014 HOME Retail Group said yesterday it planned to shut a quarter of Homebase’s 323 branches, blaming excess retail space and the rise of a generation that had fallen out of love with DIY. Chief executive John Walden said the rise of online and growing competition had left the DIY market “over-spaced” while an increasing number [...]
Retail jobs declining as pressure mounts on supermarket sector October 22, 2014 The number of staff per store on the high street slumped to a record low in the third quarter of the year, as troubled supermarkets overhauled their management structures to reverse sliding sales. The equivalent number of full-time jobs fell by 1.3 per cent between July and September, even as the number of stores increased [...]
Tesco firefighter Dave Lewis has no time to pause as results come in October 22, 2014 It's day 53 for Dave Lewis as chief executive of Tesco. Ordinarily, that might be a time for a new boss to pause for breath, but the firefighting engulfing him since his arrival looks like the first act of a much longer-term drama. The word emerging from Tesco’s Cheshunt HQ is that there will [...]
CVC wins contest for Paroc Group October 22, 2014 PRIVATE equity group CVC Capital Partners yesterday snapped up Finnish insulation group Paroc, in a €700m (£551.5m) deal. CVC beat off a host of other bidders in the hotly contested auction, which was handled by advisers from Lazard. The Helsinki-based business employs around 2,100 people and has nine plants across in Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Poland and [...]
Three things to look out for from Tesco’s results tomorrow – other than the numbers October 22, 2014 When Tesco publishes its first-half results tomorrow, including an update on its investigation into an expected £250m profit black hole, all eyes will be on the numbers. Initially, investors will look for the specifics of exactly how much profits were "overestimated" by, and what effect it has on the supermarket's previously reported profits and future [...]
Home Retail Group share price falls as it announces plans to close a quarter of stores by 2018 October 22, 2014 Shares in the owner of DIY retailer Homebase fell 3.8 percent in early trading this morning, after it announced plans to close 25 per cent of its 323 stores by 2018. Home Retail Group, which also owns Argos, said the current estate was too big relative the demands of the UK market and out of [...]