What the other papers say this morning February 6, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Buyout firms seek £10bn EE bid Buyout firms have accelerated talks with lenders to secure funding for possible £10bn bids for EE, the UK’s largest mobile phone operator, in what would be the biggest private equity-backed acquisition in Europe since the financial crisis. The efforts have picked up in intensity in the past [...]
Profit-taking cannot halt FTSE as it hits highest close since May 2008 January 10, 2013 BRITAIN’S top share index closed above the 6,100 resistance level for the first time since 22 May 2008, yesterday, recovering from a late wobble after a choppy trading session. The FTSE 100 index was up 2.86 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 6,101,51, having seen some late profit-taking erased in the closing auction, but the [...]
Primark helps boost AB Foods’ revenues January 17, 2013 PRIMARK, the budget clothing retailer, has outsmarted its rivals on the high street after reporting a 25 per cent increase in sales yesterday. Its parent company Associated British Foods (ABF) said the launch of 14 new stores in Spain, the UK, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands helped to lift sales in the 16 weeks to [...]
Pension deficits cost investors November 28, 2012 MARKS and Spencer has done an impressive job of cleaning up its pension deficit, knocking off £1bn over the last three years. It has now agreed a ten-year plan to deal with the remaining £290m. That saw a bump in the share price, which some attribute to the greater attractiveness of Marks and Spencer as [...]
Fiasco over results tests M&S’s loyalty to Tulchan January 17, 2013 THERE is little more certain in life than this: one firm’s misfortune will be seized on by rivals desperate to take advantage of another’s woes. So it is that a host of financial public relation agencies have been bending the ears of Marks & Spencer executives to test the retailer’s loyalty to its incumbent agency [...]
M&S’s board still backs Marc Bolland but its patience will not last forever January 9, 2013 THIS was no ordinary trading statement. If Marc Bolland, the Marks & Spencer chief executive, had sold an item from his womenswear ranges last autumn every time the retailer’s advertising slogan had been parroted back at him, he’d have wiped the floor with the rest of the high street. Last night’s hastily-released quarterly trading update [...]
After its profits once again disappoint, can Marks & Spencer return to its former glory? November 6, 2012 YES Rafael Gilston Marks & Spencer sits squarely in the mid-market. Because of this, it’s under constant attack from more specialist brands like Next (for families), John Lewis (for labels), Zara (for the career woman) and even New Look (for teenagers and young adults). The historical legacy of the Marks & Spencer brand is that, by [...]
On the rack January 9, 2013 MARKS & Spencer was hit by a worse-than-expected drop in general merchandise sales over the Christmas quarter, the retailer was forced to reveal last night after figures were leaked after trading hours. Britain’s biggest clothing retailer said like-for-like sales at UK stores open for more than a year fell 1.8 per cent in the 13 [...]
M&S posts slide in profits November 6, 2012 Retailer Marks & Spencer posted falling profit in the six months to September, hurt by low consumer confidence. Pre-tax profit came in at £290m for the group, down from £307m over the same period last year. Britain’s biggest clothing retailer said this morning that recent trading had been “volatile”, making it cautious about the outlook [...]
Little Christmas cheer for retail January 14, 2013 Chief Market Strategist, Cantor Index THE official retail activity figures, which are posted monthly or at specific times like Christmas, are accurate but often indecipherable to the layman. The small print is where the message is. And the most recent figures suggest that Christmas was great for some, but brutal for others. The situation was [...]