Darty enjoys a merry Christmas February 6, 2014 Electricals retailer Darty scored robust Christmas sales growth in its core French market and plans to make further cost savings amid tough economic conditions and fierce price competition. Sales at Darty France, which makes up 70 per cent of the group’s revenue, rose 4.9 per cent in the quarter to 31 January. Total group sales [...]
Apple sticks the boot into Bitcoin with Blockchain removal February 6, 2014 Apple has removed the last Bitcoin wallet from its iOS app stores. The tech giant offered no explanation for the removal of UK-based Blockchain other than it was due to an "unresolved issue." The application had been available on the iOS app store for over two years and was downloaded over 120,000 times. Blockchain responded [...]
Eurozone on track for 2014 recovery despite retail hit February 5, 2014 THE EUROZONE’S economy has enjoyed a strong start to the year, business surveys revealed yesterday, despite separate figures pointing to a disastrous December period for the currency bloc’s retailers. Output in the euro area economy grew at its fastest rate since June 2011 last month, according to Markit’s widely-regarded purchasing managers’ index (PMI). However, Brussels [...]
Witts joins Imperial Tobacco board February 5, 2014 Kingfisher’s finance director Karen Witts has been appointed as non-executive director of Imperial Tobacco, the owner of DIY chain B&Q said yesterday. Witts will join Imperial Tobacco’s board today with immediate effect, taking the number of women on the company’s board to three and meeting the target set out in Lord Davies’ 2011 report for [...]
Leading US pharmacy plans to clear shelves of cigarettes February 5, 2014 From October, smokers will no longer be able to stock up on Marlborough lights and flu medicine at their local CVS. The company has taken the decision to become the first American pharmacy to clear all tobacco products from its 7,600 stores. "Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right [...]
EU retail sales drop 1.6pc in December February 5, 2014 Eurozone retail sales in the run up to Christmas weren’t strong as analysts had forecast, or thought, denting hopes that GDP will have improved in the fourth quarter. In December, sales fell one per cent year-on-year after expectations of a 1.5 per cent rise. And November’s 1.6 per cent increase has been revised down to [...]
Ocado founder Gissing to leave as sales increase February 4, 2014 OCADO’s Jason Gissing is to step down, leaving chief executive Tim Steiner as the only co-founder still at the grocer, which posted sales growth of 15 per cent yesterday. Despite growing revenues, the firm suffered a pre-tax loss of £12.5m for the year to 1 December, compared with £600,000 the previous year. The group said [...]
Ministers get tough on shops that sell cheap alcohol with new ban February 4, 2014 THE GOVERNMENT has announced that retailers will no longer be allowed to sell alcohol below cost price, deemed to be anything lower than duty plus VAT. The ban will come into force on 6 April this year, and aims to tackle the trend of “deep discounting” which has led to some supermarkets selling cans of lager [...]
Shop prices still dropping with fastest fall on record reported February 4, 2014 JANUARY was the ninth straight month of shop price deflation in the UK, with prices falling at the fastest rate ever recorded by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen. Shop prices dipped by one per cent in the year to January, driven by a 2.7 per cent fall in non-food prices. The drop in [...]
Co-founder of Ocado steps down as the company reports £12.5m loss February 4, 2014 Online grocer Ocado has suffered a pre-tax loss of £12.5m for the year ended 1 December, despite increasing sales growth and the company’s deal with Morrison's last year to supply a new online service. Gross sales rose by 15 per cent to £843m, with new customer acquisitions up over 40 per cent on 2012. Analysts [...]