Debenhams cuts bargains and lifts profit April 16, 2015 EFFORTS to scale back on bargains and promotions has paid off for Debenhams after cheering investors yesterday with better-than-expected first half profits. Pre-tax profits rose 4.3 per cent to £88.9m for the 26 weeks to 28 February, beating consensus forecasts for profits of £85.6m. Britain’s second-biggest department store chain has been trying to wean customers [...]
Direct Line with Vladimir Putin: The weird tradition of the Russian President’s annual phone-in April 16, 2015 If you're into Russian politics, tonight is one of the highlights of the political year: Direct Line with Vladimir Putin will air on Russian TV – the Russian President's annual marathon chat show, during which he takes questions put to him by the Russian public for the 13th time. It's an annual tradition dating back [...]
Retailers push ftse to new high April 15, 2015 London’s index of blue-chip stocks climbed to a fresh record peak yesterday, held up by retailer such as Next, Dixons Carphone and Sports Direct. The FTSE 100 reached 7,111.72 during the day, before closing at 7,096.78.
High St retailers propel FTSE 100 to a new high – London Report April 15, 2015 GAINS at High Street retailers pushed the FTSE100 to a new record high yesterday as Next, Dixons Carphone and Sports Direct all had good news to share. Dixons Carphone, the electricals and mobile phone retailer, was up two per cent after German mobile telephone company Drillisch agreed to buy the UK company’s chain of telecoms [...]
JD Sports share price soars as retailer scores £100m profit for the first time April 15, 2015 The figures JD Sports' share price soared by over five per cent after the retail group netted a slam dunk in 2014, with profits before tax and exceptional items smashing the £100m mark for the first time. The retailer which includes high street fixtures such as JD, Size?, Millets and Blacks in its roster, scored [...]
Mike Ashley’s Mash Holdings doubles profits after “gift” transfer of Sports Direct shares to Mash Beta April 14, 2015 Mike Ashley doubled his profits last year through his holding company through which he holds his stakes in Newcastle United and Sports Direct. Mash Holdings' profit before tax soared 111 per cent to £542.7m for the year to April 30 2014, up from £256.4m in 2012/2013. It included the profit raised from Ashley's move [...]
Apple Watch sales figures: How many many were sold on the first weekend on pre-order? Here’s the first analyst estimates April 13, 2015 The first estimates of the Apple Watch sales are in – and they're not looking too shabby (despite reviews that can be summarised as "meh"). After opening for pre-order sales on Friday, one research firm has already pegged sales at almost one million. 957,000 if you want to be precise. Of course, Apple are keeping [...]
Rangers: Four things you need to know from the club’s financial results April 1, 2015 British football's most turbulent club Rangers released their financial results yesterday, and predictably there were new revelations to discuss and more facts to depress fans. The future is looking slightly more rosy with a more popular board at the helm, but there remains an awful lot of fixing up to do if Rangers are going [...]
European glory worth €100m to English clubs March 31, 2015 WINNING the Champions League could be worth more than €100m (£72.3m) to an English club next season in prize money alone after governing body Uefa announced an increase in merit payments for 2015-18. This year’s Premier League winners could scoop a maximum of around €113m (£82m) if they go on to lift European club football’s [...]
Rangers and Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley has too much power, says IoD March 30, 2015 A respected business group has branded the Sports Direct board "dysfunctional" and warned there aren't sufficient checks on the powers of founder and majority owner Mike Ashley. The criticism, from the Institute of Directors, comes after Sports Direct chairman Keith Hellawell endured a tough grilling by MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee last week, during [...]