Market shrugs off high street gloom as FTSE 100 hits four-year high January 9, 2013 LONDON’S FTSE 100 index soared to its highest level since May 2008 during yesterday’s trading, as bullish investors continued to drive the New Year rally. The blue chip index peaked at 6,112.27, led by strong banking and mining stocks and an optimistic outlook to the beginning of the US earnings season. The FTSE finally closed [...]
Banking and mining shares drive FTSE to highest level since May ‘08 January 9, 2013 BRITAIN’S blue-chip stocks hit their highest level since May 2008 yesterday, with gains led by banking stocks and miners after a reassuring start to the US earnings season boosted demand for riskier assets. The FTSE 100 broke through a near two-year high at 6,105.77 in afternoon trade, following a strong opening on Wall Street, peaking [...]
Grocers set to unveil festive trading figures January 7, 2013 TESCO is expected to emerge as the winner of a tough Christmas trading period for Britain’s big four supermarkets as weak consumer confidence, falling real incomes and rising real prices put pressure on the sector. Analysts predict the grocer will on Thursday post a one per cent rise in UK like-for-like sales for the six [...]
Sainsbury hails coupon success as profits rise May 9, 2012 J SAINSBURY said yesterday that its discount coupons and price matching scheme had helped it outperform the market as the UK’s third largest grocer posted a seven per cent rise in full-year profit. Chief executive Justin King brushed aside concerns over mounting competition from the likes of Waitrose’s new brand match scheme saying its own [...]
Saucy new job for ex-Clifford Chance lawyer December 20, 2012 THE LAWYER to foodie career move must be a relatively uncommon one, or so The Capitalist thought. City A.M. reported earlier this month on SJ Berwin tax solicitor Lucy Gregory jumping off the legal career ladder to pursue a vocation in cheesemongery. Now another legal bod has achieved entrepreneurial success in the food industry. Helen [...]
ANALYST VIEWS HOW IS SAINSBURY’S FARING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT? May 9, 2012 JAMES GRZINIC JEFFERIES Sainsbury’s full-year results were nearly two per cent better than expected…Crucially, the group has confirmed that it expects core capex to decline from the 2011-12 peak of £1.24bn to £1bn in 2012-13. We expect yield merits to be better underpinned given better cashflow dynamics, but Morrisons and Tesco are a 20 per [...]
Female representation in the boardroom hits record high December 17, 2012 BUSINESSES are hiring more female directors, with 40 per cent of large companies now having at least one woman on their board, according to research released yesterday. Information services firm Experian studied 2.7m businesses and found the total number of female directors has increased by 240,000 since 2007. However most of the increase can be [...]
Sun European takes a shine to packaging January 2, 2013 SUN EUROPEAN Partners has snapped up two packaging companies including Lincolnshire-based Paragon Print & Packaging in a £400m spending spree. Sun European, an arm of US private equity firm Sun Capital, yesterday said it had bought a 49 per cent stake in Paragon from Equistone and LDC for an undisclosed sum. Sun European also completed [...]
Festive trading is slow for UK supermarkets as sales weaken December 19, 2012 SUPERMARKET grocery sales have slowed in the past four weeks, held back by weak general merchandise sales and the continued squeeze on consumer budgets. According to the latest data from Nielsen, grocery sales in the four weeks to 8 December rose 1.3 per cent year-on-year. That compared with a two per cent growth in the [...]
FTSE 100 rallies on US fiscal cliff deal January 2, 2013 Investors welcomed in the first trading day of the new year with a sharply higher blue chip index this morning, as the FTSE 100 rose around 90 points in early trading as US policymakers approved a deal to prevent the so-called fiscal cliff. Miners led the rally, with Eurasian Natural Resources, Rio Tinto, Anglo American [...]