magazine archive


magazine archive

Story In Numbers

N Brown could slim down through store closures

Thursday 21 Jun 2018

In the financial year ended 3 March, less than 2% (£15m) of specialist fashion retailer N Brown’s ( BWNG ) £922.2m group revenue was generated from brick-and-mortar stores. It is therefore no big surprise that N Brown is thinking about closing its entire shop estate which consists of 20 small, loss...

Latest twist in Sky saga as Comcast hunts Fox

Thursday 21 Jun 2018

Just when you thought the bid situation around pay-TV firm Sky ( SKY ) could not get any more complicated, US media conglomerate Comcast has launched a $65bn rival bid to Disney for Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. Fox currently owns 39% of Sky and was looking to acquire the remaining 61% stake...

Trees, trees and more trees for takeover target Smurfit Kappa

Thursday 14 Jun 2018

Did you know that Europe’s largest paper and packaging firm Smurfit Kappa ( SKG ) owns more than 100,000 hectares of specially planted forest? That’s equivalent to 139,000 Wembley pitches, or 70,000 Lord’s Cricket Grounds. Those millions of trees are spread across forests in Colombia, Venezuela,...

Earnings upgrade joy for retailer Joules

Thursday 14 Jun 2018

Liberum Capital’s year to May 2018 pre-tax profit forecast for British lifestyle brand Joules ( JOUL:AIM ) is now 12% higher than a year ago. That is impressive given the inclement market conditions for most clothing retailers. Differentiated brand Joules is in an upgrades cycle. Following another...

Why UK construction figures are not as good as they look

Thursday 14 Jun 2018

The May purchasing managers’ index (PMI) IHS Markit survey on the UK construction sector showed a reading of 52.5 against expectations for 52, yet the commentary accompanying this headline did not present such a positive picture. Any figure above 50 implies expansion and anything below this level...

Canada retaliates to US tariffs with tax on surprising list of items

Thursday 07 Jun 2018

A trade war could be on horizon as allies of the US retaliate to tariffs imposed on steel and aluminium imports from 1 June. Among those affected is Canada, which slapped tariffs of 10% on a series of diverse items, including playing cards, inflatable boats, pizza, whiskey and candles – except...

Britain’s most prized brand Vodafone worth more than £21bn

Thursday 07 Jun 2018

Vodafone ( VOD ) is Britain’s most valuable brand beating off competition from the likes of HSBC ( HSBA ) , Sky ( SKY ) , Shell ( RDSB ) and T esco ( TSCO ) . The mobile phones giant’s name is worth a staggering $28.86bn, according to the latest polls by market researchers at WPP/Kantar Millward...

Grocers profit from some ‘Markle Sparkle’

Thursday 07 Jun 2018

On the Friday before the Royal Wedding and the FA Cup Final, the grocers’ tills turned over a princely £415m as supermarkets profited from hot weather and the ‘Meghan Markle effect’. This is on the say-so of Kantar Worldpanel, whose latest grocery share figures for the 12 weeks ending 20 May showed...

Oil sector gushing with cash

Thursday 31 May 2018

Research by analysts at Barclays suggests the European integrated oil and gas space, which encompasses the likes of BP ( BP. ) and Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSB ) , is set to deliver excess free cash flow for the first time in 10 years. This follows a rapid advance for the oil price in recent months,...

Young’s enjoys soaring cocktail sales

Thursday 31 May 2018

If you thought pubs were about a pint of weak lager and a packet of crisps, think again. Pub company Young & Co’s Brewery ( YNGA:AIM ) says it enjoyed runaway success with Aperol Spritz, selling 140,000 drinks last summer. It says cocktail sales overall have grown strongly over the past year,...

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