London Report: FTSE in slight slip but Asos crashes on Aim June 5, 2014 THE FTSE 100 yesterday ended lower, as the country’s equities were hit by a stronger pound in the wake of a round of aggressive stimulus measures from the European Central Bank. As the ECB cut its main lending rate to 0.15 per cent from 0.25 per cent – and the interest rate on its deposit [...]
Dorset Cereals sold for £50m June 4, 2014 ASSOCIATED British Foods (ABF), owner of high street retailer Primark, has reportedly secured a £50m deal to take over Dorset Cereals. Dorset Cereals is currently owned by Wellness Foods, which also owns Rowse Honey, and according to Sky News the bidding attracted interest from Kellogg and Weetabix. ABF made the deal through its Jordans & [...]
Tobacco customers are more Primark than Prada May 28, 2014 Companies flogging anything from ice cream to eye shadow tend to invest more in marketing their premium consumer brands, as they make higher returns. But when it comes to tobacco, customers are more attracted by value than brand, according to RBC Capital Markets research. At FTSE 100-listed tobacco giants British American Tobacco and Imperial [...]
Bottom Line: Fashionably late but with a sharp design April 23, 2014 THE clamour of discount shoppers remains as loud around the catwalk as in the supermarket aisles. Look at Primark, where the passion for hot fashion at low prices helped keep a recent dip in sugar prices from souring the results of Associated British Foods, its parent company. While its four per cent like-for-like growth is [...]
Primark set to launch its first stores in the US April 23, 2014 ASSOCIATED British Foods (ABF) is taking Primark to the US, the FTSE 100 conglomerate announced yesterday, as it reported a 26 per cent leap in the budget clothing chain’s profits. Primark is set to open a 70,000 square foot store in Boston in 2015 and it is also in talks to open a further eight [...]
London Report: Takeover hope and US expansion keep FTSE 100 on a high April 23, 2014 US expansion plans for Associated British Foods and expectations of consolidation in the drugs sector kept Britain’s top share index near a two-week high yesterday. Clothing and food conglomerate AB Foods surged 8.8 per cent, its best one-day percentage gain for 14 years, after saying its fast-growing clothing chain Primark is to set up in [...]
Retail successes and failures in the US April 23, 2014 Primark is making its first foray into the US, which has in the past proved to be a tough market to crack and one often described as the graveyard of UK retailers. However alongside a number of failures there have been several success stories. BurberryBurberry has proved to be one of the biggest British retail [...]
What you need to know before the open April 23, 2014 US markets saw another positive finish yesterday, with European counterparts expected higher today, looking to French and German manufacturing data. Economists will be looking to see if the turnaround seen in France in March continued, and Germany’s expected to see a slight improvement, too. China’s HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers’ index improved to 48.3 – encouraging, [...]
Primark buoys AB Foods as sugar continues to sour performance April 23, 2014 Shares in Primark owner Associated British Foods are up over six per cent this morning, after the group announced a six per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £434m in the first half of the financial year, and a 26 per cent jump in Primark's profit. The group called the results “resilient”, despite facing ongoing challenges [...]
Primark to open stores in northeast US April 23, 2014 Primark is set to make its first foray in the US, opening stores in the north east, owner Associated British Foods has announced this morning. After “extensive research”, the decision’s been made to take the budget high street shop to consumers in the US, AB Foods said. A new store with 70,000 square feet of selling [...]