Why crisis-hit Nintendo was my first real love October 30, 2011 It has been a mixed week for Nintendo. On Tuesday it hosted the last of three concerts to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of its most successful and enduring franchises: The Legend of Zelda. Two days later it announced the first annual loss in its 122-year history, sending the company into crisis mode. Its [...]
John Lewis sales lifted by rain July 22, 2011 John Lewis reported higher weekly sales as wet weather drove shoppers to its shops and its summer sale stimulated trade. Department store sales increased 3.7 per cent to £59.9m in the week to 16 July and were up 2.1 per cent excluding VAT sales tax. “Continued mixed weather helped drive a solid final week for [...]
John Lewis sales lifted by rain July 22, 2011 John Lewis reported higher weekly sales as wet weather drove shoppers to its shops and its summer sale stimulated trade. Department store sales increased 3.7 per cent to £59.9m in the week to 16 July and were up 2.1 per cent excluding VAT sales tax. “Continued mixed weather helped drive a solid final week for [...]
Barratt in talks to sell loans book August 8, 2011 Housebuilder Barratt Developments said it is in early talks with investors to sell part of its shared equity mortgage book, a set of loans which might whet the appetites of private equity or banks. Britain’s largest housebuilder by volume confirmed press speculation on Monday that it is mulling a partial sale of its portfolio of [...]
House prices slip in June July 12, 2011 House prices fell more than expected last month, as worries about the economic outlook deterred homeowners from putting their properties up for sale and buyers remained hesitant, a survey showed Tuesday. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ seasonally adjusted house price balance inched up to -27 in June from -28 in May, below forecasts for [...]
Russian broker Otkritie in 120pc earnings hike after hiring drive August 24, 2011 RUSSIAN brokerage Otkritie Securities raised its operating profit by 120 per cent in the year to December after more than doubling its total wage bill by hiring new staff, accounts showed yesterday. Otkritie, the City-based subsidiary of Russian investment bank Otkritie Financial Corporation, said operating profit hit £1.4m in 2010, up from £652,000 in 2009, [...]
Selling price and sales dip at Persimmon July 5, 2011 BRITISH housebuilder Persimmon yesterday said its sales had slipped in the first six months of the year but expressed optimism about the prospects for the housing market. The company said it sold 4,439 homes in the first half of 2011 compared to 4,659 a year earlier, a drop of five per cent. Revenues also dipped [...]
History lives on in the City of Angels September 18, 2011 WELCOME to LA. Embrace the pain!” jokes leading man Scoot McNairy in the touching 2007 indie flick In Search Of A Midnight Kiss. McNairy’s character is a failed, lonely screenwriter trying to woo a failed, lonely actress (Sarah Simmonds) on a New Year’s Eve date. His poignant words echo around the famous Orpheum Theatre, a [...]
Virgin could prefer Rock bid to Lloyds July 11, 2011 VIRGIN Money has submitted a bid for some 600 branches being sold by Lloyds, but could drop the offer after it sees Northern Rock’s sales document this week, City A.M. has learned. The information memorandum detailing the Rock assets on sale is due “imminently”, according to a source familiar with the situation, after George Osborne [...]
House market stuck in a rut July 11, 2011 WEAK supply and demand has left the UK housing market in a “stalemate” despite a pick-up in mortgage lending, new data suggests. Demand failed to rise in June while the recent growth in new instructions to market properties ground to a halt, according to the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). [...]