Wetherspoon is holding its own in the face of the supermarket price war May 6, 2015 It may be at a “great disadvantage” to supermarkets, but JD Wetherspoon still managed to report an increase in sales. The figures In an interim management statement, the company announced like for like sales were up 1.7 per cent in the 13 weeks to 26 April, and 3.6 per cent for the financial year to [...]
Lloyds Bank profit increase pushes share price up, despite £660m loss over TSB sale May 1, 2015 The sale of TSB has come at a big price for Lloyds, but investors are undeterred. The figures Lloyds share price has gone up 3.38 per cent, after underlying pre-tax profit rose 21 per cent and beat analyst expectations. Lloyds Bank statutory profit before tax slipped 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, falling to [...]
Sports Direct’s put options in Debenhams are starting to expire – but did Mike Ashley’s bet pay off? April 30, 2015 Sports Direct's put options are starting to expire. The question on everyone's lips is, did Mike Ashley's bet pay off? The retailer, which first took a punt on the struggling department store in 2014, has gradually increased its stake in Debenhams to 16.6 per cent back via a series of put options. A put gives [...]
RBS makes quarterly loss of £446m after more cash earmarked for forex scandal costs April 30, 2015 RBS has slumped to a quarterly loss after it joined Barclays in earmarking more cash to stave off potential payments over the forex scandal. The Figures For the three months to the end of March, RBS posted a loss of £446m, a big swing from the £1.2bn profit it made in the same quarter last [...]
Barclays earmarks £800m for Forex scandal costs: How much have other banks set aside? April 29, 2015 Barclays announced today that it is putting aside an extra £800m in provisions for the fall out of the Forex scandal. The extra £800m makes it the bank with the second largest pool of provisional cash – after JP Morgan. The extra provisions bring the total set aside by the six banks to £5.1bn. In Novemeber, [...]
Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis attacked in Athens restaurant April 29, 2015 Poor Yanis Varoufakis. Not only has the Greek finance minister had to endure being sidelined by his boss – he's now been attacked by anarchists in an Athens restaurant last night, as he had dinner with his wife, according to reports. Varoufakis said he was eating in the Exarhia district of the Greek capital, an area popular [...]
Barclays sets aside £800m for Forex as profits fall 26 per cent April 29, 2015 Barclays has put aside £800m to cover potential costs mainly resulting from legal action over alleged foreign exchange manipulation. The figures The bank made the announcement as part of its first quarter results, which revealed a 26 per cent drop in statutory profits, which came in at £1.34bn. The drop was mainly down to one-off [...]
Nationwide House Price Index: UK house prices hit a new record high April 29, 2015 UK’s house price growth rose by an annual rate of 5.2 per cent in April, a small rise from March’s figure of 5.1 per cent. This put the average cost of a house in the UK at £193,048, the highest since records began. The figures According to data from Nationwide, UK house prices rose one per [...]
BP’s share price shows it’s weathering the oil price crisis – in charts April 28, 2015 BP has suffered under the pressure of falling oil prices, as the continued low cost of the black stuff reshapes the oil industry. The company’s results, released today, showed a 20 per cent drop in profits – which, amazingly, was still above market expectations. Analysts expected earnings could fall to $1.28bn (£840m), but in the event, they [...]
