UK footfall slumps in December as Britons spend Christmas online January 18, 2016 Britain's high streets suffered their biggest drop in footfall in over a year in December, as Britons shunned stores in favour of buying Christmas presents online. Traffic fell by four per cent year-on-year, which is far greater than the drop of 1.8 per cent in December 2014 and marked the biggest drop since November that same [...]
The count is in: These are the retail winners and losers for Christmas 2015 (according to Hargreaves Lansdown) January 15, 2016 After a busy few days chock-full of Christmas retail results, we're finally beginning to get a sense of who the winners and losers of 2015's festive period might be. Yesterday, Tesco surprised investors with better-than-expected results, rounding off a solid performance among the UK's traditional supermarket sector – although Asda is still yet to report. Marks & [...]
Football betting: Arsenal face testing trip to bogey team Stoke January 14, 2016 Arsene Wenger’s least favourite trip of the season is on Sunday, as his Arsenal side travel to Stoke. The Gunners haven’t won in their last five attempts at the Britannia and, given Stoke’s recent good form, Wenger could be in for another tough afternoon. Mark Hughes’s men will be fired up to add another scalp [...]
JD Sports raises profit guidance by 10 per cent as Christmas sales soar January 14, 2016 JD Sports has increased its guidance on pre-tax profit, saying it could beat consensus by up to 10 per cent, after Christmas sales soared. Like-for-like store sales in the core sports fashion fascias were up 10.6 per cent in the five weeks to 2 January, JD said. As a result, it said headline profit before tax [...]
FTSE 100 index rises over 6,000 mark as it opens sharply higher on oil companies as share price of BP and Shell rise with pharmaceuticals including Shire and AstraZeneca January 13, 2016 The FTSE 100 climbed back over the 6,000-point mark in the first hour of trading today, as the index rose after positive trade data from China helped abate fears of a possible slowdown in the world's second largest economy. Improvements in Chinese export data appear to suggest that while the economy is slowing, things may not be nearly [...]
Sports Direct’s share price rises after increasing US exposure with stake in Dick’s Sporting Goods and increased holding in Umbro parent Iconix January 13, 2016 Mike Ashley's Sports Direct has increased its stake in Umbro's US owner Iconix Brand Group and taken a holding in US retailer Dick's Sporting Goods, flexing its international muscles further. Sports Direct now owns just over 11.5 per cent of Iconix, which bought Umbro in 2012, having built up a position in the business since November. The retailer, which [...]
Mike Ashley splashes the cash: Newcastle smash own transfer spending record as Jonjo Shelvey joins for £12m from Swansea January 12, 2016 Newcastle United's transfer spend for the season has reached £64m following the £12m purchase of Jonjo Shelvey from Swansea – the largest total spend for a single season in the club's history. Having made just £3.5m from player sales so far this campaign, Newcastle also currently have the Premier League's second highest net spend at [...]
UK retail sales: Christmas brings little cheer to retailers January 12, 2016 Christmas brought little cheer to UK retailers in December as hopes of a boost to sales from higher consumer confidence fell flat. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG’s latest monthly index shows like-for-like retail sales rose by 0.1 per cent from December 2014, when they had decreased 0.4 per cent. Total sales were up one [...]
At the close: FTSE 100 index falls further to cap off a bad week January 8, 2016 The FTSE 100 index fell again on Friday, finishing just under 6,000 to cap off a bad week, as concerns over the Chinese economy continued to weigh. "A turbulent start to 2016 has seen investors adopting the brace position, as a combination of factors have driven global markets lower," Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown, said. "With [...]
China cracked, Bolland bowed out and Dry January got drier: Here’s what got us talking this week January 8, 2016 The Jetsons' family car got a bit closer to reality, and a base-jumper around Canary Wharf gave us all vertigo while Donald Trump got punchy over the impending Commons debate on whether he should be banned. Here's what got us talking this week How low can yuan go? (Source: Getty) 1) China cracked Stock markets were suspended twice [...]