Wetherspoon shares hit as execs leave October 14, 2010 JD Wetherspoon yesterday surprised investors by announcing the departure of two of its top executives. Finance director Keith Down and chief operating officer Paul Harbottle are to leave the pubs group “in due course” said a statement, which offered no explanation for the sudden shake-up. Wetherspoon’s has weathered the economic downturn well, with Down considered [...]
Wetherspoon sees record profit after breakfast boost September 10, 2010 Pub chain Wetherspoon has reported record results with sales increasing by £41.2m to £996.3m for year to the end of July. Profit before tax and exceptional items increasing by 7.3 per cent to £71m, compared with the same period last year. The company said it was selling more 400,000 breakfasts and 600,000 coffees each week [...]
THE TIPSTER September 8, 2010 BELEAGUERED oil and gas giant BP, which yesterday published a report into the Macondo oil well disaster, received a boost after ratings agency Fitch upgraded it to A status. Will the upgrade offer sufficient impetus for the global energy firm to break its August high of 438p? WorldSpreads offers a spread of 414.4-415.4p. Weakness in [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 15, 2010 NOVARTIS Standard & Poor’s Equity Research (S&P) rates Novartis as “buy” due to its strong second quarter results. Sales are up 12 per cent thanks to volume growth, especially in vaccines, according to S&P, which said in its view, the well-managed volume-driven diversification of Novartis will offset foreseeable negatives. WETHERSPOON Seymour Pierce upgrades Wetherspoon to [...]
Wetherspoon’s brekkie boost July 14, 2010 JD WETHERSPOON returned to sales growth in the fourth quarter as its pubs opened two hours earlier for breakfast, and as the warm summer weather lured in more drinkers. The company yesterday posted a one per cent increase in fourth-quarter sales at pubs which had been open for more than a year, compared with a [...]
Depressed mining stocks are finally starting to look attractively valued July 12, 2010 IT WAS a tough second quarter for London-listed miners, which were dealt a severe blow by a toxic combination of general risk aversion, a planned tax on miners’ profits in Australia and a government-orchestrated slowdown in China. After reaching 25,356.51 on 6 April – its best level since July 2008 – the FTSE 350 mining [...]
Wetherspoons in sales dip as tough times hit its pubs May 5, 2010 INTERACTIVE INVESTOR PUBS group JD Wetherspoon is feeling the sobering effects of lower consumer spending and tax and duty rises with sales growth slowing in recent months. Same outlet sales for the 13 weeks to 25 April slipped 0.8 per cent. This was much steeper than the 0.2 per cent decline recorded over the nine [...]
IS JD WETHERSPOON LOSING MOMENTUM? May 5, 2010 SIMON FRENCH | PANMURE GORDON “We believe the group is well positioned to deliver meaningful like-for-like sales growth in the fourth quarter given recent price increases and the World Cup.” CHARLIE MENEGATOS | ACCENDO MARKETS “While the progress reported by Wetherspoons is on track and shows progress in growth and sales, we believe investors may [...]
JD Wetherspoon urges caution as sales drop May 5, 2010 PUBS group JD Wetherspoon is feeling the sobering effects of lower consumer spending and tax and duty rises with sales growth slowing in recent months. Same outlet sales for the 13 weeks to 25 April slipped 0.8 per cent. This was much steeper than the 0.2% decline recorded over the nine month period. Meanwhile total [...]
Punch pays price for pub bailout plans April 22, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest pubs firm Punch Taverns yesterday reported a 20 per cent drop in first-half pre-tax profit and said it was paying £2m a month to bail out struggling tenants. The company, which has over 7,100 pubs, said pre-tax profit fell to £66m in the 28 weeks to 6 March compared with £82m the year [...]