Sports Directs sales hike fuelled by World Cup September 7, 2010 Sporting goods retailer ports Direct posted an 8.8 per cent rise in first-quarter sales – fuelled by the World Cup in South Africa The firm, in which Newcastle United club owner Mike Ashley has a 71 per cent stake, said on Tuesday sales were £408m in the 13 weeks to July 25, up from £375m [...]
Canada’s coolest city is both French and friendly September 5, 2010 THERE’s a good reason why Montreal is known as Canada’s party town. Quebec’s capital – the capital of French Canada – bills itself as the festival capital of the world. Every year there are dozens of festivals celebrating anything and everything. But it’s not just the likes of the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Anarchist Book [...]
The car insurance boss who wants to motor into new foreign markets August 22, 2010 It is a case of ‘Recession? What recession?’ for motor insurance firm Admiral, which is in the middle of taking on 750 staff in the UK alone this year. And that means an awful lot of meetings for the Cardiff-based firm’s 53-year-old chief executive Henry Engelhardt. The Chicago-born boss meets every one of his new [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 16, 2010 SPORTS DIRECT Numis retains its “add” rating on sports retailer Sports Direct after a solid year, with ebitda of £160m in the year to April. But it has revised the ebitda forecast for this year down £7m to £195m due to a tougher trading environment. Nonetheless it believes the business has a strong internet sales [...]
Sky has already seen off challenges from rivals Setanta and ITV Digital August 9, 2010 BT SAYS its sports offering is the first step in an aggressive expansion into pay-TV it hopes will eat away at Sky’s dominance of the market (at last count Sky was tantalisingly close to 10m subscribers, while BT is languishing with less than 500,000). But BT would do well to bear in mind the cautionary [...]
The late-night bank manager is planning a High Street revolution August 8, 2010 THE revolution in High Street banking has begun. That’s the bold claim of Craig Donaldson, chief executive of Metro Bank, the first addition to Britain’s retail banking scene in 100 years. And ground zero is the corner of High Holborn and Southampton Row, where its inaugural branch opened a couple of weeks ago. “The revolution has [...]
Adidas sees a rebound after World Cup boosts its first-half sales figures August 4, 2010 ADIDAS yesterday raised its profit forecasts after the World Cup fuelled a retail sales lift of 20 per cent in the first half of the year. The world’s second biggest sporting goods maker after Nike, said it expects full-year net profit of €520m (£430m) to €550m. Adidas supplied the Jabulani World Cup match balls and [...]
Blues edge closer to £17m Ramires deal August 3, 2010 CHELSEA are set to unveil Brazilian star Ramires as their new £17m signing today. The 23-year-old midfield ace will undergo a medical at Stamford Bridge this morning after the Premier League champions agreed a deal with Portuguese club Benfica. Right-sided Ramires, who has 16 caps for Brazil, is expected to put pen-to-paper on a four-year [...]
Sports Direct in profit rise July 22, 2010 FOOTBALL fans buying personalised shirts and other World Cup gear, helped to fuel a 50 per cent profit rise for Sports Direct. The retailer celebrated its strongest-ever trading on the day of the England versus USA game. The company said World Cup demand helped it maintain the sales trends that saw post and annual pre-tax-profit [...]
Sports Direct profit surges by 50pc July 22, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest sporting goods retailer Sports Direct hit forecasts with a 50 per cent rise in annual profit and predicted more growth in the 2010-11 year. “We believe we are operationally stronger than ever,” chief executive Dave Forsey said. “Accordingly, and assuming no significant deterioration in economic conditions, we are targeting underlying EBITDA (earnings before [...]