Next profits soar
25th Mar 2010 07:04
Pre-tax profits soared at Next in 2009 after the desperate consumer environment the fashion retailer feared at the beginning of the year failed to materialise. Pre-tax profits climbed to £505.3m from £428.8m the previous year on revenues that climbed to £3.41bn from £3.27bn. Like-for-like sales we
Read moreThursday preview: Next, Ted Baker, Kingfisher
24th Mar 2010 17:57
Fashion retailer Next is announcing full year figures on Thursday and, 'given the resilience of clothing sales in January (per BRC [British Retail Consortium] data) and the implicit expression of confidence from the decision to pursue a nondiscretionary buyback programme into close season,' JP Morga
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: Budget, RBS, Sainsbury
21st Mar 2010 11:03
Alistair Darling will next week endorse plans for a global tax on investment banks and other institutions that pose a "systemic risk", but will rule out using the proceeds to create an insurance fund against future bank failures. The chancellor will use his Budget to give detailed backing to a glob
Read moreWeek Ahead: The Budget, Next, Kingfisher
19th Mar 2010 11:24
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, will make what could be his last Budget speech on Wednesday, while on the corporate side there are a number of big company announcements due, with retailers well represented. Fashion retailer Next is announcing full year figures on Thursday and, 'g
Read moreNext finance chief buys
29th Jan 2010 16:32
Next finance director David Keens has invested more than £98,000 in adding to his stake in the fashion retailer. He has bought 5,000 shares at 1963.5p each. This takes his stake in Next to 125,700 shares (0.065%). Next has been buying back shares during January at prices around 2000p a share. Al
Read moreLondon close: Good gains for FTSE 100
18th Jan 2010 16:33
Footsie finished the day in the blue despite a sharp reversal in the fortunes of International Power, which earlier had soared on speculation of a takeover by French power giant GDF Suez. Shares in the energy company slid from their earlier highs after it admitted it held talks with GDF Suez about
Read moreLondon afternoon: Stocks keep climbing
18th Jan 2010 14:49
Ongoing bid speculation, stronger retailers and buoyant miners have pushed London above 5,500. International Power is top of the pile on press reports that French power giant GDF Suez has made a takeover approach to the group, but there has been no statement from either side over the truth of the s
Read moreLondon close: Footsie follows US lower
15th Jan 2010 16:39
Footsie finished the week on a low as a poor performance in the US dragged the leading share index down in afternoon trading. US shares fell after consumer confidence rose less than expected in January. Here, Man Group was the heaviest faller after the hedge fund manager suffered a 4% drop in fund
Read moreLondon afternoon: Flat Footsie
15th Jan 2010 14:27
The blue-chip index is treading water, though there has been some keen interest in the day's big results announcements. Man Group is sharply lower after the hedge fund manager suffered a 4% drop in funds under management during the third quarter, mainly due to the $1.2bn pulled out of its flagship
Read moreNext property director sells
11th Jan 2010 16:10
Group property director Andrew Varley has reduced his shareholding in fashion retailer Next. Varley raised nearly £183,000 from the sale of 8,879 shares. That leaves him with 61,008 shares in Next. Varley is 58 years old and he joined Next in 1985 - three years after the first Next shop was open
Read moreLondon close: Footsie flatlines
7th Jan 2010 16:46
A late afternoon rally fizzled out to leave London's blue chip index little changed on the day. Banks emerged from a sticky start as the day's best performers led by Barclays and Lloyds Bank, which both received decent write-ups in an otherwise cautious broker note from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. It
Read moreLondon afternoon: Banks defy broker gloom
7th Jan 2010 14:27
Leading shares are mixed, with the Footsie barely changed now miners have recovered from a weak showing in the morning session to show gains in the afternoon. Kazakhmys and Fresnillo lead the mining sector but their gains are surpassed by two stocks from the banking sector where Barclays and Lloyds
Read moreSector movers: Sainsbury's update lifts food retail
7th Jan 2010 12:58
Sainsbury's is helping lift the food retail sector higher after saying today a record Christmas performance completed a strong third quarter in which like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose by 3.7%. Like-for-like sales, including fuel, rose by 3.8% in the 13 weeks to 2 January, while like-for-lik
Read moreLondon midday: Bank sits on hands
7th Jan 2010 11:51
London drifted lower ahead of the announcement of the Bank of England's quantitative easing and interest rate decision, which, as expected, left both the level of interest rates and the scale of the quanititative easing programme unchanged. Mining stocks are proving to be a millstone round Footsie'
Read moreBroker tips: Retailers, tobaccos, drinks
6th Jan 2010 11:48
The market turned its back on Marks & Spencer on Wednesday after the clothes and food retailer’s trading update, but Hargreaves Lansdown sees reasons to be cheerful. ‘Quarterly sales have improved for the first time in over two years, whilst the online division posted sales which rose impressively
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