Troubling times for retailers to the squeezed middle April 29, 2012 SPARE a thought for the squeezed middle. No, not the ordinary family as defined by Ed Miliband, but the places they shop and the things they buy. The mid-market consumer firm is finding the going very tough indeed. There has been much written about Tesco’s troubles in recent months, punctuated by a series of ignominious [...]
Manduca in line for chairman’s role at the Pru May 20, 2012 PAUL MANDUCA, one of the City’s best-known fund managers, is set to become the new chairman of Prudential, putting an end to a five-month search for Harvey McGrath’s successor. Manduca, 60, joined the board of Prudential, the UK’s biggest life assurer, as a senior independent director in October 2010 and has been overseeing the search [...]
Stuart Rose says fury at jobless scheme is baffling February 26, 2012 THE FORMER executive chairman of Marks & Spencer has voiced disdain at the businesses withdrawing from the government’s unpaid work experience scheme for jobless people. Sir Stuart Rose told Dermot Murnaghan, “One or two of them have shown a little less than backbone.” Calling the outrage provoked by the scheme “baffling”, Sir Stuart said: “We’ve [...]
Stuart Rose says fury at jobless scheme is baffling February 26, 2012 THE FORMER executive chairman of Marks & Spencer has voiced disdain at the businesses withdrawing from the government’s unpaid work experience scheme for jobless people. Sir Stuart Rose told Dermot Murnaghan, “One or two of them have shown a little less than backbone.” Calling the outrage provoked by the scheme “baffling”, Sir Stuart said: “We’ve [...]
Calling all traders: One day to go May 22, 2012 David Jones is the chief market strategist of IG Index and he will be delivering a masterclass at Active Trader on financial spread betting and contracts for difference. TRADING COMMENT DAVID JONES FOR many years, trading financial markets in general, and spread betting in particular, was felt to be the reserve of City professionals. But [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 27, 2012 HAMMERSON Deutsche Bank has maintained its “buy” rating on the property group and raised its target price by 20p to 520p after consensus-beating results from the company last week. The broker estimates that Hammerson will deliver its planned dividend increase in 2012, and increases its earnings per share outlook for 2012 and 2013. It does [...]
FTSE pulled down by poor showing from energy stocks March 15, 2012 Britain’s leading share index slipped yesterday, weighed down by weakness in heavyweight energy stocks after recent gains, with investors also looking ahead to futures and options expiries. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 4.71 points or 0.1 per cent at 5,940.72, having shed 0.2 per cent in the previous session following five [...]
Weir stock is most shorted on FTSE 100 February 15, 2012 ENGINEERING firm Weir has become the most shorted stock on the FTSE 100, as investors bet the company’s share price will be dented by weak demand for specialist mining equipment. Information provided by Data Explorers showed that 13.48 per cent of shares are out on loan – double the amount that were shorted only three [...]
Debenhams and M&S sales enjoy Christmas boost January 10, 2012 SHARES in Marks & Spencer and Debenhams rallied yesterday after the two British retailers revealed strong December trading, despite economic and consumer headwinds. Debenhams rose more than 10 per cent after the department store group posted flat like-for-like sales in the 18 weeks to 7 January, or 6.5 per cent growth including VAT, slightly above [...]
Hedge funds short M&S shares amid retail gloom January 3, 2012 MARKS & Spencer has become the latest high street retailer to be targeted by hedge funds betting that its share price will fall, new figures from Data Explorers show. M&S has seen demand to borrow its shares – a sign that hedge funds are taking short positions on it – rise from 3.9 per cent [...]