BRC: solid start to Christmas despite weaker sales growth December 7, 2009 BRITISH retailers saw weaker growth in sales values last month after experiencing their best October since 2002, the latest survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will show today. Retail sales rose 1.8 per cent on a like-for-like basis in November compared to the same period last year when sales volumes fell 2.6 per cent [...]
Peacocks could be put back on the block with £600m tag June 14, 2010 FASHION CHAIN Peacocks could be put up for sale, after its owners commissioned a review of the retailer’s options. It is understood the retailer could secure a price-tag of £600m if put on the market, handing its US hedge fund owners a neat multi-million pound windfall. Peacocks’ management is currently reviewing the company’s operations, including [...]
Peacocks could be put back on the block with £600m tag June 14, 2010 FASHION CHAIN Peacocks could be put up for sale, after its owners commissioned a review of the retailer’s options. It is understood the retailer could secure a price-tag of £600m if put on the market, handing its US hedge fund owners a neat multi-million pound windfall. Peacocks’ management is currently reviewing the company’s operations, including [...]
Scent yourself straight to the top September 6, 2010 AS THE worst economic crisis since the Great Depression broke in 2008, French designer Paco Rabanne released the most inappropriate scent possible: 1 Million, a male perfume in a bottle the shape and colour of a gold bar. Yet this grossly ill-timed slice of hedonism and opulence wound up being one of the UK’s best-selling [...]
Japanese whisky, the spirit of Christmas November 11, 2009 IF JAPANESE whisky sounds like a joke – something akin to the Jamaican bobsleigh team, or Indian wine – then you clearly don’t know very much about spirits. At last year’s World Whisky Awards, Yoichi 20-year-old was voted the best whisky in the world, while Suntory’s Hibiki was voted the best blended whisky. If you [...]
Tesco takes the gloves off as Christmas price war hots up December 6, 2009 Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco has launched its most aggressive Christmas discount drive, designed to blow its upmarket rivals out of the water. The supermarket giant is slashing the prices of more than 200 products in its Finest range in a bid to stop shoppers defecting to Waitrose and Marks & Spencer for luxury food treats. [...]
The best Christmas markets in Germany November 8, 2009 BerlinThe German capital is also very much the country’s Christmas market capital, with over 50 taking place – and there’ll be extra festivity this year as the city marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. The most popular market is the one in central west Berlin’s shopping district, next to the [...]
John Lewis experiences week of record sales as Christmas looms November 29, 2009 SALES are soaring at John Lewis, according to sales figures released by the department store this weekend. Figures released for the week ending 28 November show increases in electrical and home technology sales. Sales for the week reached a total of £91.79m reached, 22 per cent more than the same time last year. Televisions, coffee [...]
WH Smith braced for a competitive Christmas November 12, 2009 RETAILER WH Smith yesterday said it remains cautious about trading in the run up to Christmas after reporting a decline in sales in the first 10 weeks of the financial year. Total group sales in the period to 7 November dipped one per cent compared to the same period last year, while like-for-like sales at [...]
THE TIPSTER June 22, 2010 IT WAS easy yesterday to focus only on what was happening to sterling but there was activity in plenty of other currency pairs too. The Australian dollar-New Zealand dollar has retraced ever since the Aussie dollar failed to maintain momentum above NZ$1.3000. The latest retracement to the NZ$1.2400 level equals the 38.2 per cent Fibonacci [...]