More finance – Page 159
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OpinionRetail outlook on the edge of a precipice
Rather like the summer weather, dark clouds have gathered over retail over the past fortnight.
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OpinionFlat outlook for retail shares
Next chief executive Simon Wolfson put the cat among the retail share price pigeons last week with a frank summary of current trading conditions and the shape of things to come.
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OpinionMorrisons sets the pace
Morrisons has traditionally been the most shy of the big four grocers towards City analysts, investors and the media. Some believe that has led, in part, to its de-rating.
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OpinionNo room for smug consensus
Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner rather gracelessly laid into independent City analysts after last week’s lacklustre IPO, following which the online grocer’s shares immediately fell below the opening price.
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AnalysisLocal business rates relief
The Government plans to let local authorities subsidise business rates in certain areas. Will this help stimulate local economies and reduce vacancy rates?
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AnalysisHow UK retail is extending its franchise
Franchising helps overseas ventures, but how do you decide whether to run company-owned stores or take the franchise route?
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OpinionA sobering lesson for Ocado’s founders
Well, they got it away, but there won’t have been too many champagne corks being popped in Ocado’s Hatfield headquarters on Wednesday morning.
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OpinionDebenhams feels the love
Department store Debenhams took another step towards improving its capital structure this week when it completed a £650m refinancing, which will cut the cost of borrowing and extend debt maturity.
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Opinion
A humbling experience?
Ocado may have got its float away - just - but the whole process has been an embarassment to its founders.
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OpinionRetail M&A fears have become reality
Evidence suggests that the level of M&A activity in the sector has already slowed and we believe that it (and private equity investment, in particular) is likely to be more muted in the remainder of the year as what was previously feared has now become reality.
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OpinionTough times lie ahead but retail looks resilient
An early exit from the World Cup and weather that was more suited to the beach than the shopping mall didn’t augur well for a bumper June in the shops. Yet this week’s BRC sales figures, backed up by anecdotal evidence from leading retailers, suggest a steady recovery is continuing.
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OpinionNo cause to downgrade retail
More than half-way through 2010, many store chiefs’ comments remain wary to the point of downbeat. While the gloomy noises will hardly spark a sector upgrade, the prospects for a further downgrade don’t look any greater.
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Opinion
M&S AGM highlights
Today’s M&S AGM was the usual entertaining - and quintessentially English - affair.
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AnalysisDebenhams: all about the bottom line
As it ramps up its own-label offer, the department store retailer has sacrificed sales to boost margins. George MacDonald asks if the strategy has paid off
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OpinionWill Ocado’s IPO bubble burst?
The great dotcom bubble was based on ‘get large or get lost’, start-ups buying market share to get growth and then IPO-ing even if they had never made a profit. So is history repeating itself? Only time will tell.
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OpinionFocus on margins will be key to higher profits
It should be a statement of the obvious that selling more stuff but not making any more money out of it is no strategy for retailing. Yet in the relentless vanity-driven obsession with market share and like-for-like growth, the basics of making money sometimes get forgotten.
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OpinionDon’t be pilloried over pay
How striking that it is typically top-flight retailers that become embroiled in AGM fisticuffs.
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AnalysisOcado moves to deliver on flotation
Ocado is bullish about its plans to float, but with the online grocer yet to make a pre-tax profit, is the IPO a good deal for investors
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OpinionOcado investors should be in it for the long haul
“EBITDA should not be considered a substitute for gross profit/(loss), operating profit/(loss), profit/(loss) before tax.” Wise words from an unexpected place - none other than the very small print at the end of Ocado’s announcement of its intention to float, released last Thursday.