Amazon climbs to new high on record results January 29, 2013 AMAZON saw record sales over the Christmas period, propelling the online retailer to new heights as the high street suffered. The company last night posted revenues of $21.27bn (£13.5bn) for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 22 per cent increase on the same period last year. Although revenues were less than analysts had predicted, Wall [...]
Christmas countdown for rival high street retailers December 4, 2012 AS we move into the final countdown to Christmas, our high street department stores are pulling out all the stops. Looking back over 2012, the race between Marks & Spencer and John Lewis has never been tighter. YouGov’s BrandIndex highlights how the two brands began the year with six points separating their Index scores – [...]
FTSE 100 edges up as retailers in spotlight January 10, 2013 After hitting a four-year high during trading yesterday, the FTSE 100 continued its momentum this morning and was trading modestly up, with supermarket giant Tesco an early leader. This morning the supermarket posted its strongest UK growth over three years, as it said like for like UK sales were up by 1.8 per cent over [...]
Sainsbury’s adds 10,000 new jobs November 21, 2012 Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s yesterday announced it would create 10,000 new jobs in its convenience business over the next three years. The new roles, come on top of a further 20,000 temporary roles created to serve increased customer demand over the Christmas period. Sainsbury’s plans to open one to two convenience stores a week going forward [...]
Rose will keep up Ocado’s appearances – but little else January 22, 2013 WHEN Sir Stuart Rose dipped his toe back in the retail waters by becoming chairman of Blue Inc and backing The Hut last year, it should have been obvious he had his eye on bigger things. But why Ocado? This column – not to mention several high-profile City analysts – have long taken a dim [...]
Experian boss defends his drive for expansion November 10, 2013 Don Robert has steered the credit checking firm into fast-growing new businesses AS THE boss of a company best known for its credit checks, Don Robert is at home talking about hazardous spending decisions. “Arguably if every investment we made was brilliant we’d have to ask ourselves the question: are we taking the right amount [...]
FTSE 100 up on US earnings optimism January 9, 2013 Engineers and financial stocks led the blue chip index up in early trading, as a solid start to the US earnings season boosted investors’ appetite for stocks. Miners also advanced as investors welcomed news that Alcoa, the US’s biggest aluminium producer, forecasted a positive outlook for 2013. The FTSE 100 – trading around 0.4 per [...]
Inflation stays high ahead of festive season December 18, 2012 INFLATION defied expectations to remain high in November, with consumer price inflation (CPI) staying unchanged at 2.7 per cent year-on-year, according to official figures released yesterday. A large part of the year-on-year increase is a result of price rises in food and non-alcoholic beverages as poor harvests around the globe push up the cost of [...]
Walmart revises down earnings forecast as US comparable sales miss August 15, 2013 Asda owner Walmart has reported same-store sales in the US fell by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of the year – missing analyst expectations of a one per cent rise (release). Walmart revised down its full-year earnings per share (EPS) expectation to a range of $5.10 to $5.30 from the previous range of [...]
Why I tip England to go unbeaten in 2013 January 2, 2013 I MAKE this prediction with slightly tinted glasses, but I really can see England going through the whole of 2013 unbeaten in Test cricket, despite the prospect of back-to-back Ashes series. It would be a fantastic achievement, but it’s one well within their grasp. Aside from Australia, England also face New Zealand home and away, [...]