Retail investors to get TSB stake by end of June May 1, 2014 LLOYDS will sell a chunk of as much as 40 per cent of spun-off bank TSB by the end of June, the state-backed bank revealed yesterday. Retail investors will be able to buy shares through brokers as part of the sale, as well as institutional investors. The final terms of the sale are being arranged [...]
US corporate results round up May 1, 2014 Cereal maker Kellogg gets a rude awakening from generic rivals Kellogg, the world’s biggest maker of breakfast cereals, reported a bigger-than-expected fall in quarterly revenue yesterday as competition from private-label brands and alternative breakfast items ate into cereal sales. Sales at Kellogg’s US morning foods business fell 5.5 per cent in the first quarter. Oaktree [...]
N Brown eyes US expansion May 1, 2014 N BROWN, the online and catalogue retailer which targets older and plus-sized shoppers, revealed yesterday it is plotting a major expansion push in the US after posting a 5.3 per cent rise in full-year profit. Chief executive Angela Spindler said that while it sells three brands online in the US, it has decided to focus [...]
Marks & Spencer recruits Silicon Roundabout entrepreneurs for new website May 1, 2014 MARKS & Spencer has been recruiting Silicon roundabout’s finest to help develop its new website and to help lure the 19m customers a year who shop in its stores but do not use its website. The 130 year-old high street retailer broke away from its technology supplier Amazon and launched its own custom-built £150m [...]
Saga puts retail investor at heart of London float April 30, 2014 SAGA, the over-50s holidays-to-insurance provider, yesterday unveiled plans for the biggest flotation in London this year, as a stampede of silver haired savers registered to snap up shares in the listing. The business, which was founded by east end hotelier Sidney De Haan in 1950, said it would raise £550m in an initial public offering [...]
Home Retail Group to open new smaller Argos stores in London April 30, 2014 HOME Retail Group announced yesterday it will trial two new formats of its Argos stores as well as extend its new digital concept stores and ramp up its home delivery offer as the retailer continued to turn itself around. The group, which reported a 27 per cent rise in full-year profit yesterday, said it will [...]
Bottom Line: Look at the breathtaking impact of one blockbuster asthma drug April 30, 2014 THE CHANGING fortune of just one drug was responsible for most of Glaxosmithkline’s woes in the first quarter, an alarming reminder of how dependent the pharma business can be on a few blockbuster treatments. Glaxo’s best-selling asthma inhaler, Advair (marketed as Seretide in the UK), was dropped from an approved list by Express Scripts, the [...]
Thorntons sales melt away April 30, 2014 Thorntons’ shares tumbled nearly 15 per cent yesterday after a strong Easter failed to offset an overall decline in third quarter sales. The chocolatier said sales in the three months to 26 April fell 7.6 per cent, hit by early spring deliveries in the second quarter and weaker than expected Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day [...]
City Moves for 01 May 2014 | Who’s switching jobs April 30, 2014 MHA Macintyre Hudson The accountancy firm has announced the appointment of Matt Coward as a tax partner in its London City office. Coward is a chartered tax adviser and member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. He joins from Price Bailey, where he was a private client tax partner. DAC Beachcroft The law [...]
Next hikes guidance after sales jump April 30, 2014 Retail giant Next has reported a boom in brand sales of 10.8 per cent for the thirteen weeks to 30 April. Retail sales rose by 8.8 per cent, with the Next directory climbing 13.7 per cent. The FTSE 100 company's sales are now 4-8 per cent ahead of the full year guidance it gave in [...]