Profit up 45pc at Morrison as sales boom September 10, 2009 WM MORRISON, the smallest “big four” supermarket, reported another stellar rise in like-for-like sales yesterday, helping it to book a 45 per cent pre-tax profit rise to £449m in the first half. Morrisons, which has staged an industry-beating sales boom in the recession, said profits were in-line with expectations and that 19 stores it bought [...]
JOBS DRIVE FOR MORRISONS August 12, 2009 WM MORRISON yesterday said it would create 7,000 jobs in 2009, exceeding its initial target by 40 per cent. Britain’s fourth largest grocery said it had reached its original target of 5,000 new jobs five months early and would now add an additional 2,000 posts. One-third of the new recruits will be in the 18 [...]
JOBS DRIVE FOR MORRISONS August 12, 2009 WM MORRISON yesterday said it would create 7,000 jobs in 2009, exceeding its initial target by 40 per cent. Britain’s fourth largest grocery said it had reached its original target of 5,000 new jobs five months early and would now add an additional 2,000 posts. One-third of the new recruits will be in the 18 [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF January 18, 2010 HSBC battles for $900m Thai bank HSBC is fighting off rivals for an estimated $900m (£551m) stake in Thailand’s seventh largest bank, after state-owned Korea Development Bank joined the race for the 47.6 per cent stake of Siam City Bank yesterday. Thanachart Bank, based in Thailand, is also in the running. Final bids are due [...]
London’s top shares tumble as oil and mining companies slip February 25, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading shares fell 1.2 per cent yesterday, sliding back in the afternoon in tandem with New York stocks, with miners and oils the main drag as commodity prices fell back pressured by a firmer US dollar. By the close, the FTSE 100 index was 64.69 points lower at 5,278.23, reversing again after Wednesday’s 0.5 [...]
Waitrose and Sainsbury’s boost their brands January 12, 2010 RETAILERS have had a bumper Christmas according to the British?Retail?Consortium, but here is my review of 2009 as far as supermarkets are concerned. Graph 1 shows the share of total attention that each of the six received on BrandIndex. Over the course of 2009, Aldi and Asda dropped, Tesco and Morrison’s stayed steady, and Waitrose [...]
Bolland to start crunch talks January 10, 2010 MARC Bolland will jet back early from holiday to have crunch talks with Wm Morrison about his departure date. Soon-to-be new employer Marks & Spencer wants him to start as chief executive as soon as possible but under the terms of his contract the Dutchman still has nine months notice to work. Morrison’s is believed [...]
THE TIPSTER January 17, 2010 Retailers have had mixed fortunes over the Christmas period. Although shoppers spent huge amounts of cash in the run-up to the festive season, not everybody has gained in the same way. Supermarkets and cheap high-street chains have out-performed – department store John Lewis recorded its best ever revenues in December. But others could not keep [...]
VIX SUGGESTS TRADERS ARE NOT WORRIED March 8, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT THE first week of March saw stock markets strengthen further, taking us back up through significant retracement levels for a number of major global indices. Investors cheered on a successful Greek bond auction, boosted by the country’s newly-proposed austerity measures. Concerns over sovereign risk contagion have been brushed aside [...]
THE TIPSTER March 14, 2010 GREGGS, the bakery chain, has had stellar sales during the economic downturn, as their good value products have appealed to price-conscious consumers. Greggs announces its results later this week, and they should show strong profit growth. IG Index offers a June spread of 419.24p-424.24p. ARM Holdings has seen its share price rise steeply since the [...]