Sainsbury’s like-for-like sales fell for its first half, but statutory profit is up November 9, 2016 Sainsbury's like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell by one per cent in the its first half as the supermarket faces an uphill struggle to entice customers through its doors. The company eked out more profit however. Sainsbury's share fell at the open, ditching almost five per cent after it warned second half underlying profit is expected [...]
Poundland’s share price soars as discount retailer gets greenlight for 99p Stores takeover August 25, 2015 Poundland's acquisition of (more) budget rival 99p Stores has been given the provisional go-ahead by the competition watchdog, sending the listed company's share price soaring. The Competition and Markets Authority this morning said the merger “may not be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition”. It said: "Along with Poundworld, [...]
Brexit negotiations will cost UK £1 per person September 29, 2016 Planning for Brexit is set to cost the government £65m a year and will require at least 500 extra civil servants, a Whitehall-watching think tank has concluded. The Institute for Government (IFG) said "time and energy is being wasted on political squabbles and turf wars", and added politicians had no idea how their departments and the civil [...]
Poundland’s share sale to fund purchase of 99p Stores hurts price September 25, 2015 Poundland yesterday placed £50m worth of new shares to fund its purchase of 99p Stores. The shares, which represent approximately 7.1 per cent of the company’s existing share capital prior to placing, were placed with institutional investors at 280p, which will be worth 275p to the company after expenses. JP Morgan Cazenove acted as sole [...]
Poundland’s bosses fail to get bonuses August 14, 2015 BOSSES at UK discount retailer Poundland did not receive a bonus for 2015, despite both sales and profits at the company improving last year. Poundland’s annual report said the bonus payments were “self-funding” and “as such, this year’s underlying profit after tax achievement of £33.95m did not trigger payment of bonuses to colleagues.” The company’s [...]
Supermarket wars hot up: Poundland launches online shopping trial September 1, 2015 Poundland is dipping a toe in the waters of online retailing, with the bargain chain launching a trial online shopping service today. The discount retailer’s website, will initially offer 2,000 products ranging from Poundland’s £1 Make Up Gallery cosmetics range to Toblerone bars and three-for-£1 cans of Coke. Poundland said the service will have no [...]
Why some IPOs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be March 30, 2016 Despite a high number of hotly anticipated flotations in recent years, 2016 has been slow going for initial public offerings. Now the dust has settled, it is interesting to examine the wide variations in performance. Compare Just Eat, Auto Trader, Poundland and AO World. All four came to market in the first few months of [...]
Regulators list problems with Poundland’s £55m 99p Stores merger June 25, 2015 Britain’s competition watchdog unveiled a list of issues it is exploring around Poundland’s £55m merger with 99p Stores after the discount chain agreed to push ahead with an in-depth probe last month. Poundland, which floated on the stock market last year, announced in February that it was going to buy 99p Stores. However, the Competition [...]
The man behind the £1,000 Shop says the launch party is going to get messy May 26, 2016 David Shapiro advises his well-heeled clients to take the day off after the launch of his £1,000 shop next month. "We will be having a launch party, and it will be messy," is the word from the marketing manager of Mayfair's newest "discount" pop-up store. Shapiro says that the booze will be free flowing in August [...]
FTSE reshuffle: Who’s in and who’s out of the blue-chip index – Morrisons, Sports Direct, Aberdeen Asset Management, Paddy Power Betfair, Informa, Mediclinic International March 2, 2016 Supermarket Morrison's has stormed back into the FTSE 100, having only been given the boot in the index's last quarterly review. News of a tie up with Amazon gave the big four grocer the boost it needed, sending its share price to 205.4p, up around 10 per cent on the week. Morrison's will be joined in the blue-chip [...]