It’s good news for Reader’s Digest as potential buyers signal a rescue

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By
Mail On Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 9:21 PM on 27th February 2010

Crisis: Things could be looking up for the UK version Reader’s Digest
The administrators of Reader’s Digest UK said today there was “significant interest” from potential buyers of the business and confirmed the magazine would continue to be published until at least April.The 72-year-old British edition of the magazine collapsed into administration earlier this month when its embattled US parent Reader’s Digest Association (RDA) said it was no longer able to support it following a crisis in its pension fund.Today, administrator Philip Sykes, of Moore Stephens, said there was “significant interest” as he sought a buyer for the business.Mr Sykes said: ‘While we are reasonably optimistic, it is difficult to predict a timescale, but negotiations with interested parties have begun.’The administrators said the April issue of Reader’s Digest would be published and RDA’s sales team was marketing advertising space to media agencies for the May issue.

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Wills & Co censured in risk case follow-up

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Wills & Co, the private client stockbroker, has been censured by the
Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to improve its sales
practices and monitor its advisers after it was fined and ordered to take
remedial action three years ago.

The London-based group, which began in 1883 as the financial services division
of the Wills tobacco business, ceased trading last month because of
financial troubles caused by fighting the FSA’s investigation.

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AstraZeneca set to cut 8,000 jobs

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is to cut a further 8,000 jobs across its worldwide operations.The workforce reduction is in addition to the 12,600 global positions that have already been trimmed under the firm’s continuing cost-cutting plans. The UK group said the latest round of job cuts would be implemented over the next four years. An AstraZeneca spokeswoman said the company had yet to reveal how many UK positions would be affected. The latest global cuts are to take place across the firm’s sales and marketing, business infrastructure, research and development (R&D), and supply chain operations. The company also said that some R&D sites may close. AstraZeneca is seeking to achieve cost savings of about £1.1bn ($1.8bn) by 2014. The job cuts announcement came as AstraZeneca reported an annual pre-tax profit of £6.7bn for 2009, up 24% from 2008. Annual revenues were up 7% to £20.2bn.

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Turkey and trimmings boost Sainsbury’s sales

Families yearning for a high-quality and traditional Christmas helped J
Sainsbury to a better-than-expected performance over the festive period, the
supermarket group said this morning.

The upbeat trading update came despite a decline in sales growth due to
falling food price inflation.

Sainsbury’s said that it served a record 24 million customers in the week
leading to Christmas Eve, one million more than last year.

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Look past M&S’s sales semantics

By James Hall, Retail Editor


Published: 9:35PM GMT 06 Jan 2010





Marks & Spencer Group

However, Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman, was quick to point out that if
transactions from the first day of M&S
’s
post-Christmas sale were included in this year’s figure (as they were last
year), then clothing sales would have risen by a forecast-beating 3.2pc.

The waters were muddied further when Sir Stuart told the BBC that this 3.2pc
figure was “bang in line” with rival Next,
which reported its Christmas sales on Tuesday . The trouble was,
Next’s sales did not include any contribution from its
post-Christmas sale.

In truth, this matters little. The point is that M&S is on an improving
trend, albeit from a low base (sales fell by 7.1pc last Christmas and 2.2pc
the year before). On Wednesday, it reported its first
quarterly UK like-for-like sales growth since September 2007. It
has survived the recession and is in a “good place”, according to
Sir Stuart, while analysts hailed a “respectable” Christmas.

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Tiffany’s lacklustre results brightened by Europe and Asia

By James Quinn, US Business Editor


Published: 10:23PM GMT 25 Nov 2009




The luxury retailer saw double-digit sales growth in both Europe and Asia in the three months to the end of October as consumers returned to take advantage of Tiffany’s wide range of jewellery.In Europe, including the UK, sales rose 12pc to $65m (£40m), thanks in part to the opening of its new boutique in Manchester. On a constant currency basis – stripping out conversion to the dollar - sales across its 25 European retail outlets were actually up 16pc. Across Asia, where Tiffany has almost of its shops, sales rose 10pc to $225.8m. But it was in the US – which accounts for more than 50pc of the jeweller’s sales – where customers stayed away, with sales falling 9pc to $303.5m, and like-for-like sales down by 10pc.Sales at its flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York fell by 8pc, and even its online and catalogue sales were off 9pc. Michael Kowalski, Tiffany’s chairman, noted: “We were pleased to see that the rate of sales declines in the US lessened as the quarter progressed.” “Global diversity is paying off for Tiffany,” said Matt Arnold, an analyst at Edward Jones. “It not only protects Tiffany, but it will yield a better growth profile as there are plenty more places it could still go.”Total sales fell 2.9pc to $598.2m with profits down 1pc to $43.3m. The company had 215 shops around the world at the end of October, compared to 204 at the same point a year ago, with plans to triple the number of shops it has in China over the next five years. Looking ahead, the company did say that November is off to a good start, and that it is hopeful for the key Christmas sales period, which starts in earnest in the US after Thanksgiving, November 26. In spite of being somewhat synonymous with high-end jewellery, Tiffany has an increasing range of products in different price ranges, with women’s jewellery available for as low as £80 and men’s square cuff links as low as £110. Not surprisingly, the retailer continues to see the greatest weakness in its high-end products – where prices can run into the tens of thousands of pounds – as a result of the destruction of wealth that has taken place during the recession. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

BT profits tumble 45% as cost cutting swells

British Telecom today revealed that profits for the first six months of the
year plunged by 45 per cent and increased its cost-cutting target for the
year from £1 billion to £1.5 billion.

The company, which has already announced plans to cut 30,000 staff and has
been working to turn around its Global Services division, said that profits
for the six months to September 30 fell from £991 million last year to £547
million. Sales also fell, down 1 per cent to £5.1 billion.

However, today’s results are better than expected and Ian Livingston, the
chief executive of BT, increased the company’s sales target for the year
from an expected decline of between 4 per cent and 5 per cent to 3 per cent
and 4 per cent. Shares in BT rose 3.6 per cent, up 5.2p, to 147.2p.

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Warren Buffett in UK wind bid

AMERICAN investor Warren Buffett is considering making a £1 billion bet on
Britain’s green energy revolution.

The government wants to make Britain the world’s largest offshore wind energy
generator, but the plans require hundreds of miles of undersea cables to
bring the electricity ashore to the national grid.

The network is expected to cost more than £12 billion and regulator Ofgem has
launched an auction for the rights to build and maintain it.

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HMV strikes deal to grab digital music sales

HMV is attempting to become a major player in the downloadable music market by
taking a 50 per cent stake in the technology specialist, 7digital.

The retail chain said that the deal would boost sales at HMV and Waterstone’s,
the book store which it also owns.

Simon Fox, HMV’s chief executive, said that the move was part of his
three-year turnaround programme, which aims to target more online shoppers
and greater demand for games.

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Rio Tinto profits tumble as commodity boom falters

Published: 8:36AM BST 20 Aug 2009

Rio Tinto

The company,
whose shares are listed both in London and Sydney, reported pre-tax profits
of $4.3bn (£2.65bn) in the six months to June 30 from $9.8bn in the same
period last year.

Revenues at the group, the third-biggest miner in the world, tumbled to
$19.5bn from $30.5bn.

Rio has embarked on a series of measures to cut costs and tame its debt as
prices for copper, iron ore and aluminium remain well below the heights
reached before the global recession.

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