A slice of success for Domino’s: Share price up as sales increase yet again October 2, 2014 Domino's will please more than its pizza fans today – investors will be encouraged by news of continued sales growth for the pizza delivery company. During the 13 weeks to 28 September, like-for-like sales went up by 12.9 per cent to £165.7m, representing the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth. It is [...]
Carillion trading in line with expectations as Balfour Beatty announces three new projects October 2, 2014 The proposed mega-merger between Carillion PLC and Balfour Beatty failed to materialise, yet neither company is wasting any time licking their wounds. In August, Carillion reported a five per cent drop in half-year revenues shortly before the deal hit the rocks, but insisted it was “well positioned” to target revenue growth for the full-year. [...]
Virgin Money confirms IPO plans and looks to raise £150m October 2, 2014 Virgin Money Holdings has confirmed its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange, as yet another “challenger” bank looks to go public. The retail bank expects to raise £150m from its initial public offering (IPO), and will use £50m of the proceeds to complete a payment owing to the UK government. Each [...]
Virgin Money advisers reject retail element in £2bn IPO October 1, 2014 Virgin Money, which is planning a London float that will value the challenger bank at between £1.5-2bn, has decided against offering the shares to the public despite some institutions and advisers pushing hard for this. Retail offers have been a rarity in the London market this year, despite the massive interest generated last year by [...]
Bank of England’s stress test may threaten Lloyds dividend plans October 1, 2014 Lloyds could fail the Bank of England’s stress tests this Autumn and be banned from paying out a dividend this year, analysts at Macquarie warned yesterday. The bank has hiked its capital ratios over the past year and so is not expected to be forced to issue any more bonds or shares to bolster its buffers. [...]
Sainsbury’s new boss Mike Coupe blames “perfect storm” for sales drop October 1, 2014 Sainsbury's new chief executive said that a “perfect storm” of effects had plunged sales further into the red in the second quarter as the supermarket retailer cut its full-year sales forecast and warned that it might review its dividend. In his first official trading update since taking over from Justin King in July, Mike [...]
Sainsbury’s needs to shore up the shop – Bottom Line October 1, 2014 In business, timing is everything, and retail moves faster than most businesses. Justin King, Sainsbury’s ex-kingpin, seems to have grasped this better than most when he sailed off into the sunset earlier this year, just as the storm clouds were gathering over the supermarket. Under King’s helm, Sainsbury’s reported a 2.1 per cent rise in [...]
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons: Have investors given up on supermarkets? October 1, 2014 Tesco's share price has fallen 3.4 per cent today. Wm Morrison's has declined by 5 per cent. Sainsbury's share price tumbled 6.6 per cent. Although they operate in the same sector, each of these three supermarkets is suffering its own problem. So what is happening? Tesco's well documented £250m black hole in its [...]
Sainsbury’s share price falls following drop in sales October 1, 2014 Shares in Sainsbury's fell 2.97 per cent to £2.44 this morning, following an announcement by the supermarket its sales have fallen for the third quarter in a row. In its second-quarter trading statement for the three months to the end of September, it reported like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, were down 2.8 per cent during [...]
$5m Sharethrough investment sees Sky target ad opportunity September 30, 2014 HUGE FTSE 100 media firm BSkyB revealed yesterday it had made a $5m (£3.1m) equity investment in Sharethrough, a San Francisco based online advertising technology company. The investment from BSkyB was part of a round of fundraising that raised $10m for Sharethrough, which provides native advertising services, that match ad campaigns to web pages. As [...]