Lansdowne takes a stake in luxury online retailer Achica August 10, 2014 Lansdowne Partners, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, has bought a stake in online luxury lifestyle store Achica. Lansdowne’s investment was disclosed in documents filed at Companies House, which also said that the company is considering an initial public offering at some point in the future. Achica’s chief executive Steve Robinson, who previously headed [...]
Boohoo share price soars after reporting accelerating sales growth September 12, 2014 Boohoo's share price soared six per cent this morning after revealing revenues will be up nearly a third for its first half. The etailer, which went public in March, is expecting revenues to rise 31 per cent to £67m for the six months to August 31, it said in a trading update this morning, [...]
Online fashion giant Asos set to reveal sparkling Christmas sales January 12, 2014 ONLINE fashion giant Asos is set to report a leap in sales of as much as 38 per cent tomorrow thanks to rising demand in Germany and a strong performance in the UK. The online retailer is expected to have bucked the gloom faced by many bricks and mortar retailers this Christmas, with Peel Hunt [...]
Retailer share prices are crashing. Here’s what you need to know about the sell-off June 5, 2014 An unexpected profit warning from online retailer Asos has investors very worried about the health of the sector generally. Asos shares opened more than 40 per cent lower after it announced that it had been forced to slash its full-year profit margin guidance. The key paragraph comes from CEO Nick Robertson: The resultant higher mix [...]
Fears over Ebola contagion puts airlines in a spin – London Report October 7, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index fell back yesterday, with travel and leisure companies hit by concerns that the spread of Ebola outside Africa could hurt air travel and the tourism business. Sentiment was also hit by a set of poor data, including an unexpected four per cent month-on-month drop in German industrial production in August. Analysts had [...]
Asos and M&S downgraded by UBS. Here’s why December 18, 2013 Some sobering news for UK clothes retailers this morning, as UBS cut its ratings for both Marks and Spencer and Asos from 'buy' to 'neutral'. M&S is trading in the red, having shed over four per cent to 434p, and is topping the FTSE 100's biggest fallers this morning. UBS said: We cut our forecasts [...]
Germany’s €6bn mega-float puts London on notice September 3, 2014 Europe’s biggest online fashion player Zalando, a rival to Britain’s Asos, plans to raise more than €500m (£399m) to fund its expansion by listing a stake on the Frankfurt stock exchange. The announcement comes as London’s tech community launches a fight back to maintain its lead over its European rivals. Yesterday, the Coalition for a [...]
Best of the Brokers for 09 June 2014 June 9, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com THOMAS COOKBerenberg have launched coverage of Thomas Cook Group with a “buy” rating and a target price of 200p. The broker believes that while there are structural challenges in the tourism industry, management efforts at Thomas Cook are likely to lead to improved [...]
Marketing to millennials: Is Generation Y really all that different? September 21, 2014 Talking to advertising and media executives these days, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there’s an alien group lurking among UK consumers. Millennials, we are told, are different. Born between 1980 and 1995, they split their summers between south-east Asia and Bestival, often sporting torn jeans, face paint and/or a pair of Google Glasses. When [...]
Ladies by a head at sun-soaked Epsom June 7, 2014 THE SUN came out to meet the millenary yesterday as Investec Epsom Ladies Day got underway. There was all sorts of fashion to be seen from tartan to frilly tutus, but the Harvey Nichols fashion scouts and star fashion judge Mariella Tandy managed to pick out six ladies for the best dressed final. “It’s been [...]