Best of the Brokers for 10 April 2015 April 9, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com CRANSWICK Numis reiterated its “hold” rating on the food producer. The broker described it as a “strongly managed concern with a good track record and decent prospects”, and highlighted a major investment programme due to be commissioned in autumn. Target price was trimmed [...]
David Cameron fires starting gun for grand bargain with Europe May 22, 2015 Newly re-elected Prime minister David Cameron will hold his first talks with European Union leaders today, as he attempts to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership in the bloc ahead of a referendum in 2017. "Today I will start discussions in earnest with fellow leaders on reforming the EU and renegotiating the UK's relationship with [...]
Marks & Spencer boss Alan Stewart jumps ship for Tesco after sales drop July 10, 2014 Alan Stewart, chief financial officer at Marks & Spencer, is leaving the struggling retailer for supermarket giant Tesco, it was announced yesterday. Stewart will fill former Tesco CFO Laurie Mcllwee’s shoes at the retailer, where his pay packet is set to rise from £579,000 to £750,000 a year. Mcllwee stepped down from his role at Tesco [...]
Marks & Spencer website nightmare knocks share price: Here’s what the analysts say July 8, 2014 Marks & Spencer's long-awaited website overhaul has failed to perform. The company announced that online sales have dropped by 8.1 per cent in the 13 weeks to 28 June. The retailer excused the performance as a "settling in" of the new M&S.com site, which cost the company £150m. Marc Bolland, M&S chief executive, says that [...]
City Moves for 29 May 2015 | Who’s switching jobs May 28, 2015 EC Harris The natural and built asset design and consultancy firm has appointed James Crawley as an associate partner in its development management and consultancy team. Based in Leeds, he joins from Calderdale Council. Crawley has also held roles at Muse Developments and M&G Real Estate. OM Asset Management Trevedi Tewari has been appointed head [...]
New Look sales, profits rise despite “competitive” market June 2, 2015 New Look's new parents will be pleased with the fast fashion's latest set of results, showing the turnaround under Anders Kristiansen continuing to stabilise a previously struggling business. The figures Revenues were up 3.4 per cent to £1.4bn for the year to March 28, as like-for-likes climbed four per cent and UK like-for-likes rose 5.1 [...]
Tesco keeps clawback of Clarke’s pay-off in sight May 21, 2015 TESCO said yesterday that it could still claw back a £1.5m pay-off made to former chief executive Philip Clarke if new evidence of misconduct during his time at the retailer came to light. Tesco was forced to suspend its own internal probe into practices that led the company overstating profits by £263m when the Serious [...]
Scottish independence: Boost for No as Alex Salmond’s economic plan torn apart September 11, 2014 An influential thinktank yesterday tore apart Alex Salmond’s economic plan for an independent Scotland, warning that a Yes vote will make it harder to protect public spending from cuts. The blow to Salmond’s case for independence came as a number of high-profile UK retailers and banks added their names to a growing list citing concerns [...]
Three things to expect from the M&S full-year results on Wednesday May 18, 2015 If City analysts are anything to go by, this Wednesday could be a good one for Marks & Spencer's chief executive Marc Bolland. The troubled high street giant is forecast to post its first full-year rise in profits for four years. M&S has invested billions of pounds trying to improve the 798-strong store portfolio, up [...]
Icap’s revenue slumps seven per cent to £1.27bn despite increasingly choppy markets May 19, 2015 The figures: The trading platform Icap said revenue was down seven per cent to £1.27bn in the year ending 31 March. Additionally pre-tax profit fell 21 per cent to £95m, down from £121m posted a year earlier. Why it's interesting: While the London-based firm didn't manage to achieve full-year growth it was helped by increased market volatility due to the [...]