UK retail sales fall more than expected June 16, 2011 UK retail sales fell more than twice as expected in May, new data has shown, deepening concerns over the health of the high street. Sales fell 1.4 per cent in May compared with April, against economists’ expectations for an 0.6 per cent increase. The fall reversed April’s 1.1 per cent rise as rising job insecurity, [...]
Speedy Hire sees bumpy road May 18, 2011 Tool-rental firm Speedy Hire expects the next 18 months for the business to be “bumpy”, and said its finance director Justin Read had resigned to join a bigger UK firm. Speedy Hire, whose customers include Tesco and British engineering firm Costain, forecast a further 0.8 per cent fall in construction output this year. Speedy Hire [...]
Oil companies and banks help to push the FTSE 100 higher June 14, 2011 Britain’s top share index rose yesterday, with oil majors and banks gaining as above-forecast data from the United States and signs that the Chinese economy could avoid a hard landing boosted appetite for riskier assets. Britain’s FTSE 100 ended 29.67 points higher, or 0.5 per cent at 5,803.13 points, after inching up 0.1 per cent [...]
Grocer takes on Amazon in film rentals April 20, 2011 TESCO’s acquisition of Blinkbox could see it go head-to-head with Amazon in a clash of the retail titans. Amazon recently bought movie rental site LoveFilm and is keen to develop its online movie streaming operations. It is understood Amazon plans to integrate LoveFilm into its Amazon Prime subscription service, giving its premium customers access to [...]
Dairy Crest secures Tesco deal November 11, 2010 Dairy Crest yesterday reported a five per cent increase in first-half underlying pre-tax profit as sales of its key brands grew and it increased sales of fresh milk to major retailers. The company made an underlying pre-tax profit of £40.1m in the half year to the end of September, up from £38.1m the year before. [...]
Ageas hit by sovereign bonds May 18, 2011 BELGIAN insurance giant Ageas posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss yesterday as a positive performance in the UK failed to offset large declines in its holdings of government bonds. Ageas, reborn from the insurance arm of the European banking group Fortis after the firm was part-nationalised, made a group loss of €154m (£135m), worse than the [...]
Ageas hit by sovereign bonds May 18, 2011 BELGIAN insurance giant Ageas posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss yesterday as a positive performance in the UK failed to offset large declines in its holdings of government bonds. Ageas, reborn from the insurance arm of the European banking group Fortis after the firm was part-nationalised, made a group loss of €154m (£135m), worse than the [...]
Carnwath gives up senior role after decade May 26, 2011 ALISON Carnwath yesterday announced she was standing down as Man Group’s senior independent director after 10 years in the role. She will be replaced by Patrick O’Sullivan. Carnwath, who is also a director of Barclays and chairman of Land Securities, is staying on the board at Man. Under best practice in corporate governance, directors that [...]
Carnwath gives up senior role after decade May 26, 2011 ALISON Carnwath yesterday announced she was standing down as Man Group’s senior independent director after 10 years in the role. She will be replaced by Patrick O’Sullivan. Carnwath, who is also a director of Barclays and chairman of Land Securities, is staying on the board at Man. Under best practice in corporate governance, directors that [...]
Electrical retailers face bleak future June 22, 2011 LOCATING the source of Kesa’s woes is fraught with difficulty, but its problems aren’t particularly new. Electrical retailers have been trading on wafer-thin margins for many years now, a fact that was disguised by the boom years when the property bubble meant TVs and white goods sold by the lorry load. When the crisis hit, [...]