Wake up and smell the instant coffee March 24, 2011 CHRISTMAS?2010 will be remembered as Britain’s last big spending splurge. What better way to end almost two decades of unsustainable, debt-fuelled largesse than with a massive turkey dinner and tonnes of presents? Supermarkets could barely believe it as families spent more than ever before on rich food and booze; John Lewis notched up record sales. [...]
What bouncing dead cats can teach traders about markets May 2, 2011 WHEN it comes to free-falling stocks, as the adage goes, if you can keep your head while all around you are losing theirs, you have probably failed to properly grasp the situation. However, when the market starts to dive, you should keep an eye out for stock prices to do what has long been known [...]
NOISY NEIGHBOURS MAKE MAYOR MICHAEL A SORE-HEADED BEAR May 2, 2011 BEING Lord Mayor of London comes with its benefits. Just ask the present mayor Michael Bear, who took a seat in Westminster Abbey last Friday alongside David Beckham, Elton John and David Cameron as a guest at the Royal Wedding. There is also, of course, the advantage of a grace-and-favour home at Mansion House round [...]
Morrisons profit up as it unveils share buyback March 10, 2011 Supermarket group Morrisons has reported a rise in annual profit and issued details o f a share buyback plan. The company announced a pre-tax profit of £874m for the 12 months to the end of January, up from the £858m it made in the same period a year ago. Like-for-like sales, excluding fuel and VAT, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 29, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES NETWORK RAIL AIMS TO TAKE TRACTION OUT OF BONUS ISSUE Network Rail will seek to allay long-standing concerns about its executive bonuses by putting a new system to the vote of its 100 members tomorrow. But the scheme, intended to provide a longer term solution to the issue, has been criticised by the [...]
M&S to add to retail gloom April 3, 2011 MARKS and Spencer, the retail bellwether, is likely to add to the sense of impending doom on the High Street when it reports a sharp drop in sales later this week. Analysts expect like-for-like sales of general merchandise – which exclude food – to have fallen by a “grisly” six per cent in the fourth [...]
EasyJet in VisitBritain deal March 28, 2011 BUDGET airline easyJet has launched an £18m licensing deal with VisitBritain to promote tourism into the UK over the Royal Wedding, the 2012 London Olympics and beyond. The four-year deal will see the government pay the airline £9m to bring in foreign passengers to the UK. EasyJet will provide the rest of the funding in [...]
ALL CHANGE AT LLOYD’S AS IT RINGS 25 YEARS May 26, 2011 IT MAY seem like only yesterday for many City veterans, but today marks 25 years since the first managing agents moved into the landmark Lloyd’s building on Lime Street. So happy anniversary to the insurance giant, which still shows traces of more than 300 years of Lloyd’s history, such as the famous Lutine Bell, which [...]
Interserve posts a decline in profit… March 9, 2011 MAINTENANCE and outsourcing firm Interserve reported a decline in full-year pre-tax profit yesterday, citing challenging conditions, and said it expected stable trading conditions in 2011. Interserve, which last month made a cash and shares approach to peer Mouchel, posted pre-tax profit for 2010 of £64.1m compared to £89.2m in 2009. The company, which provides services [...]
Interserve posts a decline in profit… March 9, 2011 MAINTENANCE and outsourcing firm Interserve reported a decline in full-year pre-tax profit yesterday, citing challenging conditions, and said it expected stable trading conditions in 2011. Interserve, which last month made a cash and shares approach to peer Mouchel, posted pre-tax profit for 2010 of £64.1m compared to £89.2m in 2009. The company, which provides services [...]