Pets at Home hikes dividend after strong year for luxury sales May 26, 2016 Pets at Home boosted its dividend today after posting strong sales growth in its full-year results, thanks, in part, to the continuing craze for luxury "advanced nutrition" products. The figures The pets retailer posted like-for-like sales growth of 2.1 per cent in the 53 weeks to 31 March. Food revenue growth grew at a healthy 6.4 per [...]
As the EU says 20 per cent of Netflix content should be made in the European Union, is this a good reason to back Brexit? May 26, 2016 Len Shackleton, professor of economics at the University of Buckingham and fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, says Yes. A quota for tedious German family sagas or subsidised reworkings of Napoleon’s triumphs, compulsorily advertised on the Netflix homepage, may not itself drive voters to Brexit. But attempting to regulate video-on-demand is symptomatic of the Commission’s ever-expanding [...]
Best Buy has warned over its current quarter, sending its share price tumbling May 24, 2016 US electronics chain Best Buy has said it's current quarter is going to come in below analyst expectations. The company has blamed disruption in supply after an earthquake in Japan caused chaos with production of some high-margin products, as well as investment in services launched last September dragging on earnings. The news, coming ahead of the open in [...]
Think tank warns lower levels of immigration will mean higher taxes May 24, 2016 A post-Brexit fall in migration would hit growth across the UK and result in higher taxes for UK citizens, according to a new think tank report. If net migration from the European Union were to drop – as it might should the UK vote to leave the European Union – the National Institute of Economic [...]
EDF’s UK boss Vincent de Rivaz readies for second grilling by MPs over Hinkley delays May 23, 2016 EDF's UK boss, Vincent de Rivaz, will be hauled before MPs for the second time tomorrow, with the final investment decision for its controversial Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant expected to take centre stage. The French utility giant recently pushed back the decision once again to at least September. De Rivaz had assured it would [...]
Walmart up, Asda down: First quarter figures show supermarket still failing to get to grips with turnaround plan May 19, 2016 Woes continue for UKsupermarket Asda, which posted yet another quarterly fall in sales. However, Walmart's share price soared 9.2 per cent in morning trading on the back of the wider group's success. The figures Asda posted a 5.7 per cent fall in like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks to 30 March. The drop comes as parent company Walmart posted [...]
Staples dragged down by failed Office Depot merger May 18, 2016 Staples, the US office supplies retailer that was forced to cancel its plans for a takeover of Office Depot earlier this month, has posted first quarter results marginally ahead of analyst estimates. The retailer reported quarterly sales fell by three per cent to $5.10bn, blaming store closures that knocked revenue growth by around two per cent, and a strong dollar. Staples said [...]
Ignore the costumes, the Eurovision Song Contest is serious business May 13, 2016 Eurovision isn’t all fun. It’s serious business, too. SVT, Sweden’s national broadcaster has set aside a budget of £11m for this year’s show. But the cost of Eurovision has been larger-still for some countries. Vienna, last year’s hosts, spent £28m while the Baku extravaganza of 2012 cost an eye-popping £48m. Even participating can be prohibitively [...]
Ryan Bertrand’s secret second career as a fintech entrepreneur – and John Terry is backing his latest venture May 11, 2016 The history of football’s relationship with technology is a chequered one, from the game’s long resistance to implementing goal-line gadgetry to the tale of former Aston Villa striker Darius Vassell taking a power drill to his toenail in the misguided belief that it would relieve pain. Ryan Bertrand hopes to change that perception. When he is [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 11, 2016 US stocks are set to open down after pulling in strong rises yesterday. The S&P is down by 0.12 per cent in the pre-market, the Nasdaq is 0.1 per cent lower, while the Dow is 0.2 per cent off. It's been a poor showing so far from European markets, coming off the back of a disappointing trading [...]