Amanda James joins FTSE female top execs after Next promotion May 19, 2014 NEXT has promoted the finance boss of its retail division Amanda James to group finance director after announcing yesterday that David Keens is to stand down. Keens, who has held the post for 23 years and who has been at Next for 28 years overall, will retire from the group shortly after its full-year results [...]
Dixons Retail sells Electroworld chain ahead of Carphone tie-up May 19, 2014 DIXONS Retail is selling off its loss-making Electroworld business in central Europe ahead of its £3.7bn merger with Carphone Warehouse. The retailer said yesterday it has agreed to sell Electroworld, which has 26 stores in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to a local rival NAY. On completion of the deal, which is expected to take [...]
Game’s back in play with return to stock market May 19, 2014 VIDEO game retailer Game is to make a £400m return to the London stock market within the next month two years after it was suspended from trading and collapsed into administration. The chain is 99 per cent owned by US activist hedge fund Elliott Advisors and one per cent owned by Henry Jackson’s Opcapita, who [...]
Campbell Soup forecast cut on hot competition May 19, 2014 CAMPBELL Soup, the world’s largest soup maker, has cut its full-year sales forecast as competition in the cheap-and-easy meals category shows no sign of cooling. Shares of Campbell, which also makes Prego pasta sauces and V8 vegetable juices, fell as much as seven per cent in early trading, before closing down 2.3 per cent last [...]
What you need to know before the US open May 19, 2014 US stocks are expected to open lower today, following the distinctly choppy trading seen last week. Trading in government bonds continues to be solid, with nothing in the way of economic data to provide a guiding light for equity and fixed-income markets. The Fed’s April meeting minutes are due Wednesday, with some numbers from US [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 19 May 2014 May 19, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Facebook ready to take on Snapchat Facebook is going head to head with rival Snapchat in the video-chat app market as the social networking group scrambles to win back users from the popular ephemeral messaging app. Facebook has been working for several months on the app, known internally as Slingshot, with a simple [...]
Clarks shoes making great strides abroad May 19, 2014 BRITISH shoe retailer Clarks has put its best foot forward at home and abroad in the last year, with tie-ups and sales growth in most countries giving its profits a boost. For the year to the end of January, C&J Clark Limited posted £1.54bn in revenues, up 5.5 per cent on the prior year. Pre-tax [...]
Stock market boom puts private company sales on back burner May 19, 2014 LONDON’S booming new issue market has cut takeovers of private companies in the UK by a quarter since the start of the year, as financial backers opt for stock market listings over auctions to cash out their stakes, fresh data reveals today. Trade deals by privately owned companies tanked 24 per cent in the first [...]
Pedalling his wares May 18, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks to Simon Mottram, founder of premium cycle clothing and accessories brand Rapha IT’S A dilemma faced by the 1.9m professionals now cycling to work every day. Wear a suit, and you risk tears, discomfort and heat exhaustion. Wear lycra and you could be sacrificing style for comfort. But as the number of [...]
Discount retail firm B&M gets ready to float May 18, 2014 DISCOUNT retailer B&M is readying a stock market debut that values the firm at more than £2bn, in a move which could be announced as early as this week. The Liverpool-based company would follow discounting rival Poundland, which raised £375m on its entry into the London market back in March. B&M, which has grown from [...]