High-end stocks face pressure but love for labels will endure March 14, 2011 AS anyone who has visited Tokyo will know, Japan is a voracious consumer of luxury labels. A natural throwaway culture by necessity, thanks to the tiny size of Japanese homes, has led to a constant demand for the “latest thing”. According to MF Global, Japan accounts for 23 per cent of the global market for [...]
THE TIPSTER March 28, 2011 HOTEL and restaurant operator Whitbread has been on the up since last week with high expectations for their annual figures to March. Annual profits are suggested to come in at £279m, which is up from £208m last year. With the dividend expected to be increased to 42p, the company appears to be moving in a [...]
Luxury firms take a tumble March 14, 2011 THE DISASTER in Japan pummeled manufacturing and luxury goods stocks yesterday, alongside insurers and energy firms, as markets across the world ended lower. Burberry, which says it makes a significant portion of its profits from its Japanese licenses, fell 4.3 per cent in London trading yesterday. Hermes, which makes 19 per cent of its sales [...]
La Rinascente in sale talks February 10, 2011 Italian department store chain La Rinascente could be put up for sale, after its three major stakeholders started discussions about selling their shares. Investment bank Deutsche Bank, which owns just under a third of the 13-store chain, Italian landlord Prelios, which owns a fifth, and Italian private equity firm Investitori Associati, which owns 46 per [...]
FTSE shares rebound but debt worries still dog bank stocks April 19, 2011 STRENGTH in oversold commodity issues fuelled a modest rally by Britain’s top share index yesterday, while sovereign debt worries continued to dog banking stocks. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 26.79 points, or 0.5 per cent at 5,896.87, having dropped 2 per cent on Monday to hit its lowest level since March [...]
LVMH profit shows luxury is back July 27, 2010 French luxury goods behemoth LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported a 53 per cent jump in first half net profit yesterday, suggesting a strong return of high-end consumption. The world’s largest luxury goods company posted net profit for the first six months of €1.05bn (£875m), up from €687m a year ago as all divisions posted [...]
Wendel will appeal €1.5m St Gobain fine January 17, 2011 FRENCH investment fund Wendel said it would appeal a €1.5m (£1.3m) fine from market watchdog AMF for insufficient disclosure over its stake-building in glassmaker Saint-Gobain in 2007. The case centres on derivatives contracts with different banks which, according to the AMF, were market-sensitive and should have been disclosed by Wendel as the sole purpose was [...]
Asia narrows US lead in list of billionaires March 9, 2011 ASIA churned out 105 billionaires last year, narrowing the US’s lead in the Forbes magazine annual list of billionaires. The Asia-Pacific region now has 300 billionaires, versus the US’s 413, collectively valued at $1.3 trillion and $1.5 trillion respectively. China now has 115 billionaires, versus India’s 55. The list set a new record for being [...]
Richemont sales soar thanks to China boom January 17, 2011 Swiss luxury goods group Richemont healthy sales growth in all business areas in its third quarter as wealthy Chinese continued to splash out on Cartier jewellery and timepieces. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 42 per cent in local currencies, the world’s second largest luxury goods group behind French rival LVMH said, while sales overall [...]
Oil costs drag the FTSE down with miners and banks sinking March 7, 2011 MINERS dragged Britain’s top share index lower yesterday, as escalating violence in the Middle East and surging oil prices crimped investor appetite for risk. The FTSE 100 index closed down 16.61 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,973.78, nearly 70 points below the session high as the index traded at 80 per cent of its [...]