More finance – Page 165
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OpinionA tale of two retailers
Two sets of results issued on Monday illustrated perfectly how the retail sector has polarised. While online meteor Asos celebrated a stellar year, department store tiddler Beales was hunkering down for continued hard times after a challenging first half.
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AnalysisDSGi and Kesa powering up for the electricals battle with Best Buy
As US giant Best Buy prepares for its UK launch, the dismal results of UK leaders DSGi and Kesa show they must raise their game, says Amy Shields
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OpinionWho is the right face for Marks & Spencer?
Whether Sir Stuart Rose stays on as Marks & Spencer’s executive chairman until 2011 or goes early, what matters is getting the successor right.
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AnalysisSainsbury’s to set the pace in space race
Strong sales figures and a bold store expansion plan have made Sainsbury’s the sector’s fall guy no more, says George MacDonald
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OpinionDSGi begins to show spark
Electricals rivals Kesa and DSGi both post full-year results next week. There hasn’t been much spark in either lately. But as Best Buy limbers up to take on the European incumbents next year, there are signs that the pair are getting into shape.
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OpinionTesco still a dab hand
After Morrisons’ first-quarter update last week, Tesco and Sainsbury’s post their numbers on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively and they should make for compelling reading.
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OpinionThe mountain facing Blacks
Blacks Leisure chief executive Neil Gillis, like his customers, has a mountain to climb.
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OpinionClinton has its cards marked
Clinton Cards’ £46.4m acquisition of rival Birthdays in 2004 was one of the least surprising deals ever.
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OpinionShould UK retailers stay home?
DSGi’s offloading of its Hungarian Electro World business for the princely sum of €1 makes business sense, even if it is another setback to the retailer’s international ambitions.
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OpinionIs Westminster beckoning for Next’s Simon Wolfson?
In the retail industry, much of the chatter last week centred not on Next’s latest numbers, but chief executive Simon Wolfson’s future plans. For some time, speculation has mounted that he might consider a shift into politics, casting himself as Lord King to David Cameron’s Mrs T.
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OpinionWaterstone’s must turn the page
Has HMV’s takeover of Ottakar’s paved the way for Waterstone’s high street domination as opponents of the deal predicted?
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OpinionKeep going, there’s still stuff to be done
The UK’s largest shopfitter has unveiled what can only be termed as a catastrophic set of results — but Styles & Wood’s 23 per cent fall in sales also means is that retailers are still handing out 77 per cent of the fit-out contracts that they were in the prior year.
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OpinionIs retail seaworthy again?
Are investors in retail shares, like the Jumblies, going to sea in a sieve?
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AnalysisRetail finance directors: More than just number crunchers
No longer just bean counters in ivory towers, the role of the finance chief has evolved, and those who can marry the maths with commercial nous are in high demand.
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OpinionCarpetright on solid ground
The latest BRC retail sales figures showed that while some sectors were up after several months of poor trade, the furniture and floor coverings sector worsened. But next week we may well see one retailer faring better than most in its sector – Carpetright.
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Opinion
Resenting bankers won’t get us far
The media’s and politicians’ campaign of vilification against individual bankers makes good copy but is just a convenient diversion from the real economic problems.
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OpinionWhy Tesco's short-term mistakes could end up being long-term triumphs
Tesco has come in for plenty of stick lately, but the grocer came out of the last recession strongly, so who’s to say it doesn’t know what it is doing this time around?