Capital Shopping Centres spree helps boost profits August 2, 2011 CAPITAL Shopping Centres (CSC), the UK’s biggest shopping mall owner, said its half-year profits rose by 53 per cent, buoyed by the £1.6bn acquisition of Manchester’s Trafford Centre in January. Footfall across its 14 shopping centres increased by three per cent while net rental income rose by six per cent year-on-year, thanks to an increase [...]
Topps Tiles in sluggish trading July 13, 2011 Topps Tiles has admitted it faces another quarter of “subdued” trading as the sluggish house market and low consumer confidence continues to hit demand. The floor coverings firm, which has 313 UK stores, said like-for-like sales declined by 1.9 per cent in the 13 weeks to 2 July, compared with a 1.2 per cent fall [...]
TUI is buoyed as UK travel remains solid August 10, 2011 TUI Travel yesterday gave a confident outlook as weaknesses in its French business were offset by resilient bookings in the UK and a strong performance in the Nordic region. TUI said that sales in its northern region – which include the UK business – were up by 57 per cent year-on-year to give an underlying [...]
Supermarkets cut petrol prices as oil tumbles August 8, 2011 SUPERMARKETS have cut the price of petrol from near-record levels after the cost of oil tumbled in the face of continuing fears over Eurozone debt, the US downgrade and plunging stock markets. Asda was the first of the big retailers to announce yesterday that it would cut the price of unleaded petrol and diesel by [...]
A former banker says saving must begin at school September 22, 2011 I REMEMBER my first foray into high finance. Once a week my banker would travel to see me, take my money and give me a deposit receipt in return. He banked this money so it could be saved, bear interest and grow until I was a big girl. I was nine. Only years later did [...]
FTSE fightback foiled by bank weakness August 4, 2011 The banking sector put the brakes on potential gains on the FTSE 100 in early trading after poor results from Lloyds. The index was expected to be given new impetus today as hopes of a new package to breathe life into the US economy encouraged investors elsewhere. Former Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald Kohn said [...]
N Brown sales rise in first half July 5, 2011 N Brown, the home shopping clothing group that targets older and larger consumers, posted a rise in first-half sales, underlining the resilient nature of the business in tough times. The company, based in Manchester, said total revenue increased 5.1 per cent in the 18 weeks to 2 July and was up 1.6 percent on a [...]
N Brown sales rise in first half July 5, 2011 N Brown, the home shopping clothing group that targets older and larger consumers, posted a rise in first-half sales, underlining the resilient nature of the business in tough times. The company, based in Manchester, said total revenue increased 5.1 per cent in the 18 weeks to 2 July and was up 1.6 percent on a [...]
Europe’s playing chicken with looming recession August 30, 2011 THE markets’ are once more weighing up the Eurozone. Yesterday, the euro fell against all major currencies upon the growing suspicion that Jean-Claude Trichet is becoming dovish, together with the release of bad data. In the European Commission’s business and consumer confidence survey, the broad economic sentiment indicator (ESI) for August came in at 98.3, [...]
City AM interview Paul Fisher of the Bank of England February 23, 2012 Senior Bank of England official Paul Fisher was interviewed on Wednesday 22nd February 2012, by Allister Heath and Julian Harris from City A.M. The edited transcript is as follows: Paul, would you like to start with how you see the outlook at the moment? I think it continues to be a story where the outlook [...]