Online search giant Yahoo has published its second quarter results which disappointed the market, sending its shares diving more than 7%. Profits at the company grew by more than 50% in the quarter, but net revenues missed expectations. Revenue in the three months ending June 30 totalled $1.6 billion (£1.05 billion), compared with $1.57 billion [...]
British retailing giant, Marks and Spencer (M&S), has today announced UK same-store sales grew in its first quarter (13 weeks to 3 July), while food sales rose 1.5% and general merchandise was 6% higher. While the figures represented the third quarter of sales growth in a row, it was slower than the 5.1% increase in [...]
US central bank, the Federal Reserve, will end its two-day meeting today and are likely to leave interest rate at the record low of 0% and 0.25%. Rates have been at this level since December 2008, as a result of subdued inflation and high unemployment. It has reiterated its policy to maintain low interest rates [...]
British retailing giant, Marks and Spencer (M&S), has today announced pre-tax profits totalled £632.5 million for the 12 months to 27 March – a rise of 4.6% on the same period a year ago. UK like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of new store openings, grew 0.9% over the 12-month period. Sales of general [...]
Supermarket giant Morrisons has today reported same store sales rose by 0.8% in the 13 weeks to 2 May, much lower than the 6% growth reported in the year to January 31. Despite the slower sales growth, the Bradford-based retailer said it is outperforming its competitors and industry data shows it remains the fastest-growing of [...]
Fashion chain Next said it had a solid first quarter and is on track to meet full-year profit targets but added: “We remain very cautious in our outlook for the year ahead”. Its cautious statement comes as many other companies warn of slow consumer spending after the General Election as the new Government embarks on [...]
British retailing giant, Marks and Spencer (M&S), today posted better-than-expected same store sales of 5.1% in the UK in the 13 weeks to March 27 (its fiscal fourth quarter). Sales were boosted by strong demand for formalwear and knitwear. The company said clothing sales grew 10.1%, while homewares rose 13.3%. Furthermore, food sales (which have [...]
Last week, a deal was reached to help Greece manage its debt crisis, following the two-day EU summit, which was held in Brussels. The news meant the euro recovered from a 10-month low, which will see a rescue package total €22 billion (£20 billion) and will include help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). So [...]
Britain’s largest mutually-owned retailer, the Co-operative Group, has today posted “record sales and profits” for the 2009 year after its acquisition of Somerfield and its merger with the Britannia building society. The group said underlying operating profits before significant items soared 20% to £473 million over the year, while revenue was £13.7 billion. Meanwhile, the [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today announced UK car sales were up by 26.4% in February compared with the same month in 2009, boosted by the Government’s scrappage scheme. The £400 million initiative, which was launched last May to boost the ailing car industry, pays drivers of cars at least 10 [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today revealed sales of new cars grew by 29.8% in January compared with the same month in 2009, boosted by the Government’s scrappage scheme. The £400 million initiative, which was launched last May to boost the ailing car industry, pays drivers of cars at least 10 [...]
WH Smith, which sells newspapers, books, stationery and confectionery, said it remains cautious about consumer spending after it posted a 4% fall in sales for the 21 weeks to 23 January. The fall in sales was slightly better than analysts expectations of a 5% fall and the 218-year-old retailer said it has planned accordingly for [...]
A quarterly survey of the UK’s financial services sector by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has revealed that firms remain cautious in their outlook. According to Ian McCafferty, chief economic adviser at the CBI: “The bounce in UK financial services activity over the past six months is not expected to last [...]
Fashion chain Next has today reported better than expected sales figures for the Christmas period. The fashion retailer Next said like-for-like sales at Next Retail were up 3.2% in the 22 weeks to Christmas Eve. Its mail order business, Next Directory, said sales increased by 6.8% compared with a year earlier. As a result, it [...]
A survey by business group British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has revealed that businesses are cautious about a recovery next year with figures showing that two thirds are planning wage freezes or pay cuts next year. The survey, which questioned 260 companies, also revealed that in a bid to reduce overheads, one in five is [...]
Britain’s largest building society, Nationwide, posted a slump in first half profits and provided a gloomy assessment of the housing market as it unveiled its results. Nationwide said pre-tax profits for the six months to September 30 were £143 million, a fall of 62% compared with the £374 million posted a year earlier. The company [...]
Crisis-torn Northern Rock, which is due to be split after receiving approval from the European Union, provided an upbeat statement after it said that in the three months to the end of September, losses from bad loans being written off had lowered, its costs remained under control and net income had risen. Northern Rock collapsed [...]
The European Central Bank (ECB) has today elected to keep interest rates for the euro zone on hold at the record low of 1%, as widely expected. The move comes as policymakers are uncertain about recovery within the region after official figures earlier this week revealed that the economy contracted by 0.2% in the April [...]
Minutes of the Bank of England’s September meeting have been released today and have revealed that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously this month to keep interest rates at the historic low of 0.5%. Furthermore, the Bank also opted to leave its quantitative easing programme unchanged at £175 billion and said it would not [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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