Restaurant review: Hispania, Bank March 6, 2014 RESTAURANT HISPANIA72-74 Lombard Street, EC3V 9AYTel: 0207 621 0338 FOOD Four StarsVALUE Four StarsATMOSPHERE Four Stars Cost for two with wine: £110 COMBINING the words “Spanish” and “bank” in recent years has been enough to leave a bad taste in the mouth. Yet despite the somewhat portentous association, a group of brave Asturians have taken [...]
Best of the Brokers for 03 March 2014 March 2, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com J MENZIES Panmure Gordon has a “buy” rating and 840p target ahead of the logistics firm’s full year results tomorrow. The broker expects a 4.4 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £53.1m, due to falling magazine volumes, while the aviation business looks [...]
Best of the Brokers for 06 February 2014 February 5, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com JD WETHERSPOON Barclays has upgraded the pub chain to “overweight” with a target of 880p. The broker thinks Wetherspoons is being overlooked due to a price to earnings ratio that is below the long-term average for the firm, but thinks the shares could [...]
Any Other Business – 28/01 January 27, 2014 GREAT British purveyor of wheaty goodness, Hovis, hit the headlines yesterday having had a large hunk of it sold off. But do you know where the name comes from? In 1890, the man behind the bread, Richard Smith, launched a competition to find a name and Hovis, which derives from “hominis vis” or “strength of [...]
How to grow a business from a bean January 26, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks student life and staple diets with James Eder, founder of marketing firm The Beans Group IN THE age-old debate over whether entrepreneurship is innate or can be taught, James Eder – founder of The Beans Group – makes a strong case for the former. At 13, he and his brother Michael created [...]
JD Wetherspoon reveals rise in Christmas sales January 22, 2014 JD WETHERSPOON reported strong results over the Christmas and New Year period yesterday, the latest in a series of UK pubs to benefit from the holiday season. Like-for-like sales for the twelve weeks of the second quarter were up by 6.7 per cent and total sales by 10.6 per cent, while year to date like-for-like [...]
Wetherspoons slams pub taxes as sales improve January 22, 2014 Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has used its pre-close statement to strongly criticise what it regards as an unfair tax regime: The pub industry continues to pay far higher taxes than supermarkets do, mainly as a result of an unequal and unfair VAT and business rates burden. This tax inequality has greatly widened the pricing differential [...]
What you need to know before the open – 22/01 January 22, 2014 European equities are expected stronger today, as US stock futures increase and improving Asian shares see investors relaxing a bit. Davos continues today, with world leaders debating the crucial economic questions of the day. With something of a dearth of economic data this week, investors continue to watch the various earnings reports out. SUGGESTED [...]
Wetherspoons founder hits out at Labour’s pub regulation plan January 21, 2014 THE FOUNDER of the pub chain JD Wetherspoon has hit back, after a Labour minister called for tighter regulations for pub companies. Tim Martin said that although he thinks Punch Taverns and Enterprise have not treated some tenants well, tighter regulation would punish family-run companies who do a good job and try to be fair. “The [...]
Growing food and booze sales give festive cheer to Marston’s January 21, 2014 MARSTON’S yesterday became the latest pub chain to report strong trading over the Christmas and New Year period, with like-for-like sales up 4.1 per cent. Food sales grew by 5.6 per cent in the 15 weeks to 18 January, the firm said, while at its more drinks-led managed pubs’ sales were up three per cent. [...]