THE TIPSTER December 8, 2010 Retailers have had mixed results recently with supermarket Tesco announcing bumper numbers and Game Group doing the opposite. HMV steps up to the plate today and investors will want to know if the Christmas season is providing a welcome uptick in sales. The share price has performed poorly so far in 2010 but it seems [...]
BLAIR WOOS LAWYERS WITH FOND MEMORIES November 22, 2010 CITY law firm Clifford Chance last night played host to a gathering of 250 of the City’s most prominent names in a one-off chance to hear from former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair blitzed into the event and had to run off to another engagement immediately afterwards, but in between he found time to cover [...]
2011 is the year that London becomes the world’s best place to stay February 20, 2011 JUST when it seemed as though London couldn’t fit another slice of luxury into its five star-crammed hotel scene, along comes… well, everything. This has been a huge year for the capital. The completion of the spectacular £200m refurb of the Savoy sparked the buzz of excitement. Since then, Park Lane has seen the rebirth [...]
THE TIPSTER December 1, 2010 Few retail stocks have managed to see their share price recover to the halcyon days of 2007, but Carphone Warehouse has recently achieved that feat with the stock now eyeing the 400p level. Clearly the Christmas season has the potential to bring further cheer for the stock. Furthermore, given the ongoing tide of innovation in [...]
Google and Carphone in mobile deal October 25, 2010 THE SECOND Google-branded mobile phone will hit the UK in time for Christmas through an exclusive deal with Carphone Warehouse, City A.M. has learned. Its predecessor, the Nexus One, is the flagship device for the search giant, which is desperately trying to wrest market share from Apple’s iPhone. The deal with Carphone represents a major [...]
Queen agrees to £6m cut to annual civil list budget October 20, 2010 EVEN the Queen felt the pain of yesterday’s cuts. George Osborne said the Queen had “graciously” agreed to do her bit. She has agreed to a freeze in the palace’s cash allowance, known as the Civil List and funded by the taxpayer, for a year. The bulk of the grant goes towards paying staff, with [...]
M&C Saatchi expects Xmas adverts boost September 30, 2010 AD AGENCY M&C Saatchi hopes a bumper Christmas for retailers will help it beat full-year expectations. The update came as Saatchi posted a 17 per cent rise for pre-tax profit to £6.3m and the same size sales rise to £58.2m, for the six months to the end of June. The news adds to hopes that [...]
AARDMAN’S CLOSE SHAVE October 10, 2010 WALLACE and Gromit creator Aardman has posted a £2.5m loss this year after soaring costs and shrinking income from its commercials division ate into the bottom line. Despite recording £1m profits last year and increasing revenues by a third to £31.5m since then, the Bristol-based animation house has been hit by costs from moving headquarters, [...]
Barracuda looks to Costa to fuel sales November 1, 2010 BARRACUDA is to launch Costa coffee at its pub estate – and will now open at 9am for breakfast. Costa coffee is expected to be available in 100 of its 217 pubs by Christmas with the rest launching in 2011. Barracuda, which also has the Smith & Jones brand, is pursuing a more food-focused policy [...]
SELLING November 18, 2010 MANAGING DIRECTOR, PROPERTY HUNT Q.Dear Russell, what can I do to increase the value of my property? A.There are very simple and obvious things that can be done to improve the value of a property but it is amazing how often people forget them. For example, it will not help the value of your property [...]