magazine archive


magazine archive

Story In Numbers

Alert leaves Laura Ashley firmly out of fashion

Thursday 22 Feb 2018

Shares in wallpaper, furniture, fashion accessories and bed linen brand Laura Ashley ( ALY ) have fallen by 83% since the summer of 2015. The share price now trades at 6p following the retailer’s latest profit warning (15 Feb), an alert combined with poor half year results to 31 December. Amid a...

Biggest taxi fare ever: Uber’s $4.5bn loss

Thursday 22 Feb 2018

Uber’s full year results show the ride-hailing company’s losses jumped by 61% in 2017. The company ran-up staggering losses of $4.5bn last year, up from $2.8bn in 2016, according to various media reports. In the last quarter alone Uber apparently ate through $40m of cash as it invests in expansion...

Ricardo shifts up a gear with electric vehicle work

Thursday 22 Feb 2018

There’s been an impressive change of fortunes for engineering and environmental consultancy Ricardo ( RCDO ) with a record order book worth in excess of £290m at the end of 2017. Encouragingly, much of this new business is stemming from battery developments and the wider shift to electric vehicles...

New car sales in reverse gear

Thursday 15 Feb 2018

New car registrations in January fell 6.3% according to the latest data (5 Feb) from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), marking the tenth consecutive month of decline. Some 163,615 cars were driven off forecourts, a 6.3% fall compared with the same month in 2017. Consumer...

Game digital secures up to £55m support for e-Sports tie-up with Sports Direct

Thursday 15 Feb 2018

Video games seller Game Digital ( GMD ) now has access to up to £55m to fund the roll-out of its physical gaming arenas and develop its BELONG competitive gaming and e-sports experience, courtesy of Sports Direct ( SPD ) . Game Digital plans to launch arenas or concessions in select branches of...

A lifetime of rising dividends

Thursday 15 Feb 2018

What links global consumer products group Proctor & Gamble and Coca-Cola, the drinks giant? Yes, their respective brands are pretty much ubiquitous around the world, but the pair have also been paying increased dividends for more than 50 years. In the US, where both are listed on the New York...

Large price to earnings growth discount on UK technology stocks

Thursday 08 Feb 2018

Many UK technology stocks are not as expensive as they may at first appear, especially when current growth forecasts are taken into account. This is the finding of a study by investment bank Investec. Its analysts found their universe of technology stocks were trading at a 18% discount to the wider...

UK construction flatlines

Thursday 08 Feb 2018

The latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data on the UK construction sector suggests the fall-out from the collapse of Carillion ( CLLN ) is having a negative impact. A reading of 50.2 in January implies negligible growth. Any figure above 50 means expansion while anything below this threshold...

A.G. Barr’s sales continue to fizz

Thursday 08 Feb 2018

Scotland-based soft drinks maker A.G. Barr ( BAG ) says it now expects up to 99% of its own portfolio will be exempt from the UK sugar tax, up from previous guidance of 90% and leaving a meagre 1% of the portfolio exposed to the levy. The IRN-BRU , Rubicon and Strathmore Water brand owner’s...

Threadbare margins in mobile payments

Thursday 01 Feb 2018

Direct carrier billing specialists Bango ( BGO:AIM ) and peer Boku ( BOKU:AIM ) have seen their commission from app store purchases shrink to just 1.4% each. Direct carrier billing is where consumers can elect to charge app store purchases to their monthly phone bill rather use a credit card. But...

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