UK inflation rate drops January 17, 2012 Inflation fell sharply in December, supporting Bank of England forecasts for a hefty decline in 2012, due to lower fuel prices and high-street clothes discounting, official data showed. The Office for National Statistics said consumer price inflation fell to 4.2 per cent in December from 4.8 per cent in November, as the decline in inflation [...]
Tesco shareholders slam executives’ share trades January 16, 2012 SHAREHOLDERS want Tesco to tighten rules on when its executives can trade shares, after a senior manager sold stock eight days before the company issued a profit warning that hammered its share price. Investors said rules need revising to put greater distance between the timing of share deals by executives and significant company announcements. The [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 16, 2012 Clubcards are gold I disagree with Richard Perks’s analysis of Tesco. [Tesco’s marketing strategy needs a new broom in 2012 to sweep away its Clubcard, last Friday] If Tesco invested in a cost-cutting exercise it would probably discover what most businesses using voucher/discount schemes are finding; that cheap customers pay at the cheap price and [...]
Tesco executive sold shares before profit warning January 13, 2012 Tesco’s UK operations chief sold stock just over a week before a profit warning sent shares in the world’s third-biggest retailer plunging, a regulatory filing shows. Noel “Bob” Robbins, UK chief operating officer, sold 50,000 shares at 404.51 pence apiece on 4 January, netting around £202,000, according to a filing published on January 5. That [...]
Banks lead FTSE up after bond auctions boost January 13, 2012 Banks led the FTSE 100 up this morning as they were buoyed by tentative signs of recovery in the Eurozone. European shares and the single currency rose after positive comments on the region’s outlook from the European Central Bank and the success of Spain’s bond auction yesterday. Meanwhile Italy launched a €4.75bn bond auction today. [...]
TESCO TO BET £500M ON UK FIGHTBACK January 12, 2012 A RATTLED Tesco is set to splash around £500m on revamping its UK store network and recruiting new staff after it stunned the City with its first profit warning in twenty years. Chief executive Philip Clarke is ready to sanction an investment of “hundreds of millions” of pounds in Britain after the supermarket yesterday posted [...]
Clegg in push for blind CVs January 12, 2012 JOB APPLICATIONS would be fairer if CVs were made anonymous and schools were not mentioned, Nick Clegg claimed yesterday. The deputy Prime Minister believes racist HR staff may judge applicants on their names, and the “old boys network” means having a prestigious school on the form helps some applicants to the disadvantage of others. Clegg [...]
Festive gloom leaves Tesco’s stock sinking January 12, 2012 NEARLY £5bn was wiped off the value of Tesco yesterday after it issued a profit warning on the back of its worst Christmas in decades. Shares in Britain’s biggest retailer fell by 16 per cent before closing down 15.99 per cent at 323.45p. The firm shocked analysts when it said sales at British shops open [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO TESCO? January 12, 2012 CLIVE BLACK | SHORE CAPITAL In light of the work that must be undertaken and the need to see its output, we are downgrading our recommendation from Buy to Hold… Whilst today’s update is a major disappointment, the downgrades reflect not just poor recent trading but a build up of matters, particularly in the core [...]
M&S CHAIR BROADENS OLD-SCHOOL EDUCATION January 12, 2012 SCHRODERS, Barclays Wealth, Deutsche Bank, Killik & Co, JP Morgan – the former pupils of Rugby School seem to have gotten everywhere in the City. And on Wednesday night, 190 Old Rugbeians reunited at Eversheds for an evening in aid of the Arnold Foundation, the trust named after Rugby’s progressive headmaster Dr Thomas Arnold that [...]