All articles by Nick Bubb – Page 3
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Opinion
Nick Bubb’s verdict: Poundland - everywhere to run, nothing to hide
Companies don’t usually hide good news, so it’s not surprising that Poundland now seems happier to talk about like-for-like sales growth.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Why won't shareholders give Mike Ashley a bonus?
Mike Ashley can’t keep himself out of the news of late and over the next fortnight the impending vote over his prospective Sports Direct bonus is poised to grab him column inches.
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OpinionNick Bubb’s verdict: Debenhams - on a journey North to reduce promotional activity
It is easy to mock retail chief executives who talk about embarking on “a journey” but at least Debenhams’ journey to cut back on promotions has a direction and a target.
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OpinionNick Bubb’s verdict: Pets At Home – not waving but drowned out?
With lots of “pawsitively” exciting growth stories now available in the retail sector, not least via the B&M IPO, how do recent floats like Pets at Home avoid getting drowned out?
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OpinionComment: to B&M or not to B&Q? How discounters are stealing share from DIY sheds
Does the apparent failure of B&Q to make the most of the better weather in Q1 imply that new rivals like B&M are nibbling away at its market share?
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NewsNick Bubb's verdict: Are the Card Factory and Game IPOs growth stories?
They say that people have short memories but it is only two years ago since the publicly-quoted Clinton Cards and Game Group went bust in ignominious fashion, losing their investors a lot of money.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Dixons Carphone – a merger of cynics?
It is rare for “mergers of equals” to work straightaway, so is it surprising that the Dixons Carphone merger has attracted some cynicism?
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Look again in a year to see Justin King’s true Sainsbury’s legacy
Given the poor state of the businesses that Dalton Philips and Philip Clarke inherited, can Mike Coupe be more confident about Sainsbury’s?
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Shoe Zone – a surprise entry in the retail IPO list
With all eyes on the ikes of Fat Face and B&M, Shoe Zone has come in from left-field to enter the retailing IPO arena.
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OpinionNick Bubb’s verdict: Next - how to move the goalposts
Next’s financial disciplines have served it well over the years and created huge shareholder value, so do they need to move the goalposts?
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NewsNick Bubb’s verdict: Morrisons - from dividends to discounters
Morrisons’ beleaguered management is focused on one D, the discounters, but shareholders are focused on another - the dividend.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: John Lewis Partnership - could do better?
If the John Lewis Partnership was being given an end-of-term school report, would the headmaster give it 10 out of 10?
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Would Carphone Warehouse and Dixons be a good match?
It could be a marriage made in heaven, but mergers of equals aren’t easy to make work, so Dixons and Carphone Warehouse will each need to negotiate well.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Pets At Home - what’s left in the tank?
Pets At Home seems to be a great business, but how much has been left in the fuel tank by its private equity owners?
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Does Ao.com's valuation signal another dotcom bubble?
The old Appliances Online business may have changed its name to the anonymous Ao.com but that hasn’t changed its appeal to US Internet investors.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Ocado begins with 'O' but will it end with £1.8bn?
One wag famously once said Ocado begins with an ‘O’ and ends with a zero, but it seems to be very much alive and kicking.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Carpetright: Profit Warnings R Us?
Long-suffering investors in Carpetright have become used to regular profit warnings. However today’s problem is not the UK, but the Netherlands.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: WHSmith - the more things change the more they stay the same
The Christmas trading update from WHSmith was the first from new chief executive Stephen Clarke, but the more things change the more they stay the same.
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OpinionNick Bubb’s verdict: Asos - UK good, overseas bad?
The City is a hard taskmaster and it found reasons to be disappointed in Asos’s overseas sales growth today, but there’s no stopping the UK.
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OpinionNick Bubb’s verdict: Marks & Spencer - who’d be a food retailer?
Marc Bolland may have mixed feelings about the unfolding disaster at his old company Morrison’s, but he can be proud of how M&S Food has performed.