All City & finance articles – Page 576
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News
Next remains cautious as profits fall
Next has posted a fall of 12.4 per cent in pre-tax profits in its first half to July, down to 173.5 million for the period.
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News
Thorntons defies gloom with profit jump
Thorntons has bucked the high street gloom to report a pre-tax profit boost of 19.6 per cent to 8.5 million in its preliminary results.
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News
Comet to make first-half loss as sales plunge
Anglo-French electricals group Kesa disclosed that sales have plunged at its flagship businesses, including UK chain Comet, which will make a first-half loss.
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News
Galiform and Merchant Equity settle MFI row for £8 million
Building supplies group Galiform has agreed to pay Merchant Equity Partners 8 million in settlement of a dispute arising from the sale of MFI’s retail business to the private equity firm.
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News
BRC slams expected business rates rise
The British Retail Consortium has hit out at the Government for failing to protect retailers from extra costs being piled onto the industry following a report suggesting that business rates will increase by 16 per cent from April 2010.
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News
Retail acquisitions likely in Central Europe as credit crunch bites
The impact of the credit crunch and inflation is threatening to pitch emerging retailers in Central and Eastern Europe into difficulties, providing acquisition opportunities for Western groups.
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News
Credit crunch will drive Christmas shoppers online
Up to 68 per cent of shoppers are planning to shop online for Christmas presents this year.
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News
Gap sales fall in August
Sales at US fashion giant Gap fell 5 per cent to US$1.14 billion ( 639.9 million) in the four weeks to August 30.
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News
John Lewis sales up
Sales at John Lewis were up 1.6 per cent in the week to August 30, driven by back-to-school sales and a strong performance in electricals and technology.
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News
HMV Group sales robust
HMV Group has reported strong interim sales, but suffered at its Waterstone’s fascia in the wake of a weaker book market.
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News
Housing policy brings industry little comfort
The Government’s 1 billion raft of initiatives to kick-start the housing market is unlikely to improve retail trading, store chiefs and analysts have said.
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Opinion
Retail can and will get through this
In 10 years of following retail and the City, I can safely say the sector has not been so out of favour with the Square Mile as over the past year or so. Sure, there have been spills – the boom and bust of the dotcom era, economic fears after ...
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News
Woolworths: new boss starts
Steve Johnson formally took over as Woolworths chief executive on Monday and has pledged to act fast to improve the variety store group.
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News
City concern for retail spirals as sterling suffers further knocks
Despite a sector rally, analysts remained resolutely downbeat about retail’s prospects as recession loomed and the pound plunged to a record low against the euro.
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News
Go Outdoors goes all out for superstores
Outdoor specialist retailer Go Outdoors is to open its first two superstores since securing an 18 million investment from Bank of Scotland Corporate in April.
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Opinion
Act tough now and win later
As famed former Marks & Spencer boss Sir Richard Greenbury points out on page 23, retailers have had a good run. Such a good one, in fact, that many of today’s senior retailers won’t have worked through a recession. Not many of us here at Retail Week have either.
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News
Christmas in the balance
Sector braced for toughest season since the 1980s, with December like-for-like drop expected.
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Analysis
Is this really the worst of times?
As Alistair Darling’s sobering comments on the downturn hit home, George MacDonald asks industry experts what truth lies behind the figures and what the impact will be for retail.
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News
Interest rate held at 5%
The Bank of England has held the interest rate at 5 per cent for the fifth month running despite increasing fears of an imminent recession.