All articles by Nick Bubb – Page 7
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OpinionComment: HMV - Hope May Vanish?
It is often said that hope springs eternal and that is certainly the way HMV’s management seem to feel, as they still confidently expect profits of over £10m this year, despite their dependence on Christmas trading and despite dismal trading over the last year. But HMV might stand for “Hope May Vanish”.
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OpinionComment: Should Next win gold for multichannel retailing?
Next deserves a gold medal for its remarkable achievement in topping expectations for today’s Q2 sales and edging up its full-year profits guidance.
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OpinionComment: Halfords - Are the wheels coming off?
The Aztecs used to indulge in a bit of human sacrifice to appease the gods and it has become customary for companies to imitate the process when it comes to issuing repeated profit warnings.
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OpinionSuperGroup: Light at the end of the tunnel?
Just as speculation starts about a potential IPO in the retail sector in the form of Poundland, it is ironic that today has seen the last major flotation in the sector, SuperGroup, try to pick up the pieces after a disastrous year when the share price slumped well below after the debut level after a material shortfall in profits.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Marks & Spencer's problems go beyond management instability
Management stability counts for a lot in business, but at Marks & Spencer the top management team always seems to be chopping and changing, so what are we to make of the latest reshuffle announced today?
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OpinionDebenhams: Never knowingly not on Sale?
Retail purists have often mocked the fact that Debenhams seems so reliant on discounting that, to paraphrase the famous John Lewis marketing slogan, Debenhams is “Never Knowingly not on Sale”.
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OpinionJohn Lewis and the electricals market: Do all boats float on the same tide?
One of the minor miracles in UK retailing this year has been the astonishing performance of electricals sales in John Lewis department stores, with growth of 32% over the last 20 weeks.
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OpinionComment: Can Tesco be micro-managed?
Although “retail is detail”, as the great John Sainsbury famously said in the 1970s, Phil Clarke’s tendency towards micro-management at Tesco is worrying.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Mothercare - can a new broom sweep clean?
New chief executives of troubled companies always enjoy a brief honeymoon period, when they can enthusiastically set out their “three year turnaround plan” and implicitly rubbish everything their predecessors have done.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: Marks & Spencer's slowly declining status
M&S remains a great retailing brand and it has survived a lot of mis-management over the last 20 years.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: The demise of Clinton cards
High street retailers that are losing money and have a lot of debt need the support of their banks, their suppliers and their landlords to keep going.
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OpinionNick Bubb's verdict: The outlook for Argos
It is an uncomfortable truth that the catalogue showroom store format has died a painful death everywhere else in the world, except in the UK.