Better Capital writes down two firms and sells Reader’s Digest February 17, 2014 BETTER Capital, the company led by private equity veteran Jon Moulton, yesterday said it would have to write down the value of companies held in one of its portfolios after poor trading. The company said that office supply company Spicers would see lower revenues this year than last year due to problems at its distribution [...]
H&M shrugs off January blues with double-digit sales growth February 17, 2014 HENNES & Mauritz, the world’s second largest retailer, said yesterday that total sales accelerated in January, rising 15 per cent compared with the same time last year. The Swedish clothing giant, which competes with its bigger rival Zara-owner Inditex, said this was in line with its forecasts and compared with a 10 per cent rise [...]
What you need to know before the US open – 17/02 February 17, 2014 The dollar’s dropped to six-week lows today, in the wake of weaker-than-expected US data. The fall in January manufacturing output, out last Friday, has seen some investors re-assess their expectations for the speed at which the Fed will taper. It edged up against the yen after data showed the Japanese economy grew just 0.3 per [...]
Footfall rises but high street is still losing out February 17, 2014 HIGH-STREET shops have failed to make any gains from improved footfall in January’s sales, continuing to slip behind other platforms for bricks and mortar retailers. A boost to sales following Christmas didn’t translate into more traffic for high streets, according to new figures released today by Springboard and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – but [...]
London Report: Inflation data to show economy improving in UK February 16, 2014 INFLATION figures due out tomorrow are expected to show further signs of improvement for the UK’s economic recovery. With the cost of living down, consumer prices inflation (CPI) may now be below two per cent. Jonathan Loynes, of Capital Economics said: “CPI inflation looks set to fall below the two per cent target in January [...]
Wall St The Week Ahead: US economy in focus as the Fed reveals minutes February 16, 2014 WITH economic data being shovelled aside like snow and earnings season winding down, US stock investors could zero in this week on the Fed’s view of the economy and technical analysis charts as the S&P 500 nears its record high. The Fed writes the script for Wall Street. The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most [...]
Brothers who built brand with purpose February 16, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks travelling, Topman, and the English weather with Rob Forkan – the tsunami orphan who co-founded new flip flop brand Gandys INNOCENT may have pioneered a whole new approach to marketing (the company has even published a book about its “story,” and “what they’ve learned”), but no business tale will ever be as [...]
US factories have been hit by extreme weather – but there’s no need to worry February 14, 2014 Industrial production in the US is the latest economic release to take a hit from the dreadful weather the country’s been experiencing. Production fell 0.3 per cent in January, according to figures from the Federal Reserve – it was expected to increase 0.3 per cent. Manufacturing output dropped 0.8 per cent as the severe weather [...]
What you need to know before the US open – 14/02 February 14, 2014 US stock index futures were pretty much unchanged today, suggesting US markets could open slightly lower. The S&P 500 could end the day on a two-week winning streak, as it's narrowed its loss for the year to one per cent. Data just in shows that both the import and export price indices increased in January [...]
Pound nears three-year high against US dollar February 13, 2014 STERLING neared a three-year high against the dollar yesterday, boosted by weaker than expected US data. The pound rose by nearly a cent to $1.6673, its highest level since May 2011. Disappointing retail sales during January’s bad weather led analysts to cut their forecast for US growth in the first quarter, dragging down the dollar. US [...]