UK retail sales jump unexpectedly in March April 25, 2014 Shoppers in the UK have been buying more than expected, particularly when it comes to clothes and shoes, with retail sales increasing 0.1 per cent in March and 4.2 per cent year-on-year. Month-on-month, that’s down from the 1.3 per cent increase seen in February (which was revised down from 1.7 per cent), but well ahead [...]
What you need to know before the open April 25, 2014 Fears that the crisis in Ukraine will escalate are expected to see European markets open lower today. Signs of growing corporate takeover activity strengthened confidence yesterday, offsetting the persistent worries for a time. US secretary of state John Kerry has called on Moscow to either work towards diffuse the situation in Ukraine, or face more [...]
Retailers’ confidence for future sales at highest in three years April 24, 2014 RETAILERS are bullish about the months ahead, according to a survey which shows the strongest expectations for growth in nearly three and a half years. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) shows that 48 per cent of retail firms responding to their poll believe that sales volumes will grow during May, while only five per [...]
Letters to the Editor – 25/04 – Transport capacity, Western decline, Best of Twitter April 24, 2014 Transport capacity [Re: Just three reforms would transform UK recovery into sustainable boom, yesterday] Rolling back the green belt around London by one mile is a sensible suggestion. But how would the inhabitants of the 1m new houses, all within travelling distance of London, travel into the city? Certainly not on the overcrowded trains and [...]
Retail investors drive Saga float towards £3bn April 23, 2014 INSURER Saga is set to put retail investors at the heart of the largest UK stock market float since Royal Mail, as it gears up to publish plans to list the firm in London as early as next week. Saga’s owner Acromas, which also owns the AA, is preparing to offload as much as £1.5bn [...]
Bottom Line: Fashionably late but with a sharp design April 23, 2014 THE clamour of discount shoppers remains as loud around the catwalk as in the supermarket aisles. Look at Primark, where the passion for hot fashion at low prices helped keep a recent dip in sugar prices from souring the results of Associated British Foods, its parent company. While its four per cent like-for-like growth is [...]
Primark set to launch its first stores in the US April 23, 2014 ASSOCIATED British Foods (ABF) is taking Primark to the US, the FTSE 100 conglomerate announced yesterday, as it reported a 26 per cent leap in the budget clothing chain’s profits. Primark is set to open a 70,000 square foot store in Boston in 2015 and it is also in talks to open a further eight [...]
Improving economy lifts demand at Hammerson’s shopping malls April 23, 2014 HAMMERSON, the Anglo-French shopping centre landlord, said yesterday that an improving UK economy had helped to drive demand for its sites. The developer signed UK leases at eight per cent above estimated rental value in the period from 1 January to 22 April, and by one per cent in France. Footfall across its UK sites [...]
Retail successes and failures in the US April 23, 2014 Primark is making its first foray into the US, which has in the past proved to be a tough market to crack and one often described as the graveyard of UK retailers. However alongside a number of failures there have been several success stories. BurberryBurberry has proved to be one of the biggest British retail [...]
Here’s how government policy fuelled a booming black market in tobacco April 23, 2014 The illegal tobacco market continues to thrive in a country with one of the strictest tobacco control regimes in Europe, according to a report released by Japan Tobacco International (JTI). Ireland's illegal tobacco trade has grown to a point where non Irish duty paid cigarettes make up 28 per cent of the market. JTI's research [...]