Dealmakers at The Savoy for M&A knees up December 13, 2012 TO The Savoy on Wednesday evening, for one of the final awards dos in The Capitalist’s diary before the Square Mile goes into hibernation for the festive period. The occasion this week was the Mergermarket European M&A Awards 2012, hosted by Daily Politics presenter and Spectator chairman Andrew Neil. The annual ceremony awards the biggest [...]
Tesco recovery fails to ignite growth in sales June 11, 2012 TESCO reported its fourth consecutive quarter of falling sales yesterday as the grocer’s £1bn recovery plan following its shock profit warning in January struggled to gain pace. Britain’s largest retailer said UK like-for-like sales excluding VAT and fuel fell 1.5 per cent in the 13 weeks to 26 May, only slightly up on a 1.6 [...]
How traders could pilot festive market sentiment November 26, 2012 AS CHRISTMAS rolls around, many market pundits will once again seek to explain away the typical bull market sentiment as a seasonal anomaly – or indeed, to give it full moniker, a Father Christmas rally. But is this actually something you can hope to trade successfully? Or is this seasonal sentiment nothing more than a [...]
House of Fraser in Xmas spirit December 5, 2012 HOUSE OF FRASER, the department store group, yesterday revealed robust third quarter figures, boosted by the recent revamp of its stores. In an update issued to bondholders, the privately owned chain unveiled like-for-like sales growth of 5.4 per cent in the 13 weeks to 27 October. Online sales jumped by a staggering 50 per cent [...]
Majestic bucks bad weather to post profit rise November 19, 2012 MAJESTIC Wine yesterday shrugged off a summer of bad weather and economic uncertainty, as it posted a rise in first half revenue and profits. Chief executive Steve Lewis said the wash-out summer prompted organisers of fundraisers and sporting events to cancel or return wines while consumers took a raincheck on barbecues. “The test is always [...]
John Lewis enjoys bumper online sales ahead of Xmas November 18, 2012 JOHN LEWIS said online sales jumped by almost a third last week compared with the same time last year, as consumers turned to their computers and mobile devices to make their Christmas purchases. The department store group reported a 31 per cent year-on-year rise in online sales in the week to Saturday 17 November. John [...]
Online retailers prepare for busiest day ever December 2, 2012 HIGH street shops and online retailers will face one of their fiercest battles yet for customers this Christmas, with today set to mark the busiest internet shopping day of the year. UK online sales will peak today – dubbed Mega Monday by City analysts – with Visa Europe expecting 6.8m transactions worth £320m to be [...]
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 [...]
City scribbler aims to make a killing with thriller for charity December 16, 2012 THIS evening sees the launch of Michael Crawshaw’s thriller novel To Make A Killing, at the London Capital Club. Crawshaw has previously worked as head of European research at Citigroup and head of research at Schroders. However he has penned his debut Cit-lit to raise money for Joanna Lumley-backed charity Hands Together. The prime suspect [...]
Next shares hit fresh high over bumper Xmas January 3, 2013 SHARES in Next reached a record high yesterday after the high street clothing stalwart upped its full-year profit guidance and reported a strong rise in sales in the run-up to Christmas. The UK’s second largest clothing retailer said it expected to make profit before tax in the range of £611m to £625m in the year [...]