Best of the Brokers for 03 April 2014 April 2, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com TESCO HSBC cut its price target for the supermarket from 300p to 260p due to the structural changes in the sector and the need for Tesco for take decisive action such as investing its margin before it’s eroded. The broker cut its earnings [...]
Cream of the crop: Gu founder James Averdieck talks Australia and rural fantasy September 28, 2014 It's the kind of story you wouldn’t necessarily believe: someone cooked up the idea of a chocolatey pudding company while sitting in a coffee shop in Belgium, eating brioche. But for James Averdieck, founder of Gu, that’s exactly what happened. Back in 2003, he was a marketer for dairy company St Ivel, working in Belgium [...]
What you need to know before the open June 4, 2014 European markets are expected lower this morning, as stock futures were seen falling. Nervousness is building ahead of the European Central Bank’s anticipated measures, which’ll be revealed tomorrow. Regulator Ofcom has announced further imposed cuts to the cost of mobile phone calls, with a new charge control that’ll see calls to different networks fall to [...]
Strawberry fine for Tesco August 19, 2013 TESCO was fined £300,000 yesterday for misleading customers over a “half price” promotion for strawberries in the summer of 2011. The case, brought by Birmingham City Council, relates to the price of a 400g punnet of strawberries at stores in 2011. They were marked at half price longer than the original price – breaching the [...]
London Report: China data and bullish retailers drive FTSE rally April 16, 2014 THE UK’S benchmark stock index rose yesterday after Chinese economic data came in a touch above forecasts, with Tesco rising on aggressive strategy plans and Sports Direct surging on a bullish note about the company. The sportswear retailer surged 5.6 per cent to the lead FTSE 100 gainers. Traders cited a note from Bank of [...]
Best of the Brokers for 02 April 2014 April 1, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com TESCO Espirito Santo sticks to its “sell” rating for the retailer ahead of full-year results on 16 April, and cuts its fair value from 315p to 265p. The broker thinks that while Tesco’s operational problems are fixable, it reckons the firm could fail [...]
London Report: FTSE ends on a high on strong economic data July 2, 2014 Britain’s top share index hit a one-week high yesterday, with upbeat economic data from the US and China improving investor sentiment and boosting cyclical sectors such as banks and miners and carmakers. The FTSE 100 index closed 0.2 per cent firmer at 6,816.37 points, after climbing to a high of 6,829.49, the highest level since [...]
Asda returns to sales growth as price cuts kick in May 15, 2014 SUPERMARKET giant Asda said yesterday it had returned to underlying sales growth in its first quarter as price-cuts started to attract thrifty shoppers. Asda, which trails market leader Tesco by annual sales and is vying with Sainsbury’s to be the UK’s no2 grocer, said like-for-like sales rose 0.1 per cent in the 15 weeks to [...]
The City’s office choir kicks off LSE with “Let’s go fly a kite” from Mary Poppins June 23, 2014 Stock market ceremonies vary from place to place, there are bells, buzzers and countdown orbs, but we’d wager none have ever kicked off a day’s trading with a song – until yesterday. Stocks began Monday morning trading on the LSE following a rendition of “Let’s go fly a kite” from Mary Poppins – sung by [...]
The real casualties of the supermarket price wars April 16, 2014 The threat posed by the hard discounters on Britain’s big four retailers has been well documented. Tesco’s chief executive Philip Clarke today described his discount rivals as “formidable” as he announced further plans to slash prices beyond the £200m already set aside in February. But new research shows that the biggest unrecognised casualties of the [...]