Which were the best and worst investments of 2014? December 22, 2014 This year low interest rates have seen investors who bet on traditional investments receive returns tantamount to chickenfeed. Perhaps we should have given up before we'd all even started? Perhaps not. Investors who plumped for chocolate, property, the US dollar and Aim-listed company Fitbug would have watched as their money practically grew on trees. Conversely, [...]
House of Fraser sales lifted by demand for own label brands June 25, 2014 DEPARTMENT store chain House of Fraser saw same store sales rise two per cent in the first three months of the year, as customers snapped up its own-label brands. House labels, including Linea and Kenneth Cole, jumped eight per cent in the 13 weeks to 26 April while branded and concessions sales both rose by [...]
Sports Direct share price down despite 15.6pc rise in profits, with no shareholder dividend July 17, 2014 Sports Direct has seen its share price drop two per cent following initial gains. The sportswear retailer reported its end-of-year results today, showing £239.5m in profit before tax, a 15.6 per cent rise on the 2013 figure. Revenue came in at £2.7bn, a rise of 23.8 per cent and underlying EBITDA was up 15 per [...]
Sports Direct eyes Cotswold June 12, 2014 SPORTS Direct has joined the bidding for Cotswold Outdoor, as Mike Ashley’s high street retailer looks to the great outdoors again following its unsuccessful bid Blacks Leisure two years ago. The firm is understood to have lodged a bid for Cotswold’s parent company AS Adventure, which owner Lion Capital has put up for sale with [...]
Bottom Line: How to lose friends and alienate people July 2, 2014 MIKE Ashley looked thoroughly bored at yesterday’s Sports Direct meeting, seemingly fed up with all the commotion surrounding its latest attempt to pay him a hefty bonus. One might have thought he’d be used to it. An extremely divisive figure, often ridiculed and reviled in the football world, the bolshie and controversial way by which [...]
London Report: FTSE nears record 7,000 level after USA jobs surprise July 3, 2014 LONDON’s top share index yesterday edged ever-closer to breaking its 1999 record – and the 7,000 point mark – after fresh batch of strong US jobs data and supportive rhetoric from the European Central Bank. The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 48.84 points higher, or 0.7 per cent, at 6,865.21, taking its gain since the start [...]
Tesco’s week from hell: £250m black hole, 16 per cent fall in share price since Friday September 26, 2014 Was this the week Tesco hit rock bottom? Having discovered a huge black hole in its finances, shares have fallen from Friday's closing price of 229.6p, to a low of 191.23p in early morning trading today. That's a fall of almost 17 per cent. Here's a handy, cut-out-and-keep guide to Tesco's week from hell Monday [...]
Ashley’s Sports Direct plans on Australia launch July 14, 2014 Sports Direct is set to make its first foray into Australia through a tie-up with MySale after buying a stake in the flash sales site last month. The sports retail giant, controlled by billionaire tycoon Mike Ashley, plans to open three stores in Australia and one in New Zealand through a joint venture with MySale. [...]
Ashley kicks bonus into touch and shocks City July 16, 2014 SPORTS Direct founder Mike Ashley stunned the City yesterday after pulling out of a controversial £200m bonus scheme just weeks after winning investors’ support. The sporting goods giant said that after talks with the remuneration committee, Ashley told the board that he did not wish to be awarded any shares under the 2015 bonus scheme. [...]
Brand Index: Ashley’s Sports Direct has found the sweet spot among shoppers July 8, 2014 IN RECENT days, shareholders of Sports Direct have finally approved the retailer’s bonus scheme, after years of turning down the firm’s plans to reward founder and deputy chairman Mike Ashley. This award that could potentially see Ashley and up to 3,000 employees share £200m in equity, as long as profits double by 2019. Ashley himself [...]