Selfridges has unveiled its Christmas window displays as the festive season arrives in force on the high street, two months ahead of the big day. The department store once again claims to be the first in the world to reveal its Christmas windows, but it comes after the retailer defied the summer heatwave to open its Christmas shop at the beginning of August. The retailer said more than 100 people had worked on non-stop rotated shifts over the past eight days to prepare the windows for Thursday’s unveiling, which features a ‘Selfridges Rocks Christmas’ theme. Selfridges stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester now feature more than 85,000 baubles hung from balconies and ceilings, more than 65,000 pieces of paper confetti released from its atrium cannons every day and 200 Christmas trees.
Mecca bingo owner Rank Group (RNK) has posted a hefty slump in sales over the past four months as high-rollers reined in their spending at the firm’s casinos. The company posted a 4.9% decline in revenue in the 16 weeks to October 14, dragged down by a decline in customer visits and spending, particularly at its Grosvenor Casino venues. Like-for-like sales tumbled 7.2% at Grosvenor due to a reduction in spending from high-rollers, while its digital channel saw revenue decline by 5.2%.
Gatwick Airport has revealed plans to widen its emergency runway to bring it into full passenger use. The scheme would enable the UK’s second busiest airport to accommodate up to 109,000 extra flights a year. Opponents of Gatwick expansion claim the proposal would increase the problems of noise, air pollution and road congestion already suffered by surrounding communities. Gatwick’s bid to build a new second runway was rejected by the UK Government in favour of Heathrow expansion in December 2016.
Games Workshop Group (GAW) shares slid today as it warned of ‘uncertainties’ ahead in an unscheduled trading update.
Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) said UK sales rose 2.2 per cent in the last three months despite ‘evident uncertainty among UK consumers, and hot weather across Europe’.
Unilever (ULVR) – the maker of Marmite and Dove soap – reported sales growth of 3.8% in its most recent quarter, below analyst expectations of 4.3%. Today’s statement had no mention of the firm’s recent embarrassment when it was forced to shelve plans to relocate to Rotterdam.
Pest control and hygiene giant Rentokil Initial (RTO) could be forced to sell off the UK arm of recent acquisition Cannon Hygiene after the competition watchdog raised concerns. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said provisional findings of its investigation showed the takeover could lead to higher prices and lower quality for some customers. Rentokil and Cannon are two of the top three washroom suppliers in the UK.
Bosses of crisis-hit cake chain Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) could be hauled before parliament after a shock £40million black hole was uncovered in its accounts. Chief executive Luke Johnson, who owns more than a third of the cafe’s parent company Patisserie Holdings, is facing calls to account for his governance of the business in Parliament. Trading in the firm’s shares has been frozen and long-serving finance director Chris Marsh, 44, arrested on suspicion of fraud after the scandal pushed it to the brink of collapse last week.
Defiant Unilever (ULVR) boss Paul Polman has defended a controversial attempt to move the company’s headquarters to the Netherlands, after the bid was sunk by a shareholder rebellion. Speaking publicly about the climbdown for the first time, he said the proposal was the right thing to do and defended his legacy as chief executive. The 62-year-old spoke at a gathering of celebrities and business leaders to launch the One Young World conference, which encourages young people to aid important global causes.
Pearson (PSON) looks set to get out of the teacher’s bad books as it announced it is on track to return to profit growth this year, sending its shares soaring. The education publisher said sales at its North American division, which is its largest, were flat during the first nine months of the year due to an ongoing decline in its US courseware offsetting growth elsewhere. However, it said there will be underling profit growth, as it remains confident that its shift from more traditional classroom materials to digital is beginning to pay off.
There were mixed results from the housebuilding sector today as Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) warned over profits but Barratt Developments (BDEV) said it started its new financial year in ‘a strong financial position’. In an unscheduled update, Crest Nicholson blamed a ‘more difficult’ than expected property market for a slowdown in property sales in London and the South during the traditionally stronger autumn months. The Surrey-based company said it now expects profits for the full-year to come in between £170million and £190million – well below last year’s pre-tax profit of £207million. But Barratt Developments, the UK’s biggest housebuilder, said it continued to benefit from taxpayer-funded Help to Buy loan scheme and low borrowing costs. The updates come after Newcastle-based lender Bellway yesterday cautioned over the threat of a Brexit hit to next spring’s busy selling season. Shares in Crest Nicholson fell in morning trading, while Barratt Developments shares were also down despite the upbeat trading update.
Airline Flybe Group (FLYB) lost more than a third of its market value today after it issued another profit warning, blaming higher fuel prices, a weaker pound and lower demand for flights. The low-cost UK carrier said it will now make an adjusted loss of around £12million for the year to the end of March 2019. This is a smaller loss than last year’s £19.2million, but is worse than market forecasts, and comes despite a £10million one-off boost to its accounts. Flybe’s shares crashed 36% to 20.37p in morning trading following the update.
Shares in uranium miner Berkeley Energia Limited (DI) (BKY) have tanked amid reports that the Spanish government plans to deny the permits the firm needs to open its main project in Salamanca. A government source told Reuters that the last two permits for the mine, which are vital for it to begin operating, would be turned down. Australia-based Berkeley said it had heard nothing like this from the government and was seeking immediate clarification. Shares plummeted by 41.5%, or 9.8p, to 13.75p.
Easyjet led the blue-chip fallers, as a profit warning from smaller rival Flybe sparked investor nerves. easyJet (EZJ) took a 5% or 60p dive, to 1150.5p.
Shares in private healthcare company Mediclinic International (MDC) were looking sickly as they plummeted 80.7p to 394p. The firm said revenue per bed in its Switzerland facilities was down 2.8 per cent due to regulatory changes, and revenue growth in the Middle East was set to be lower than expected.
Softcat (SCT), the IT provider, took an 11.5% or 91p dive to 700p – despite announcing a final dividend of 8.8p, up 44.3% from the previous year. Vijay Anand, an analyst at Jefferies, called the results a ‘strong finish to the year’ as operating profit climbed 35.6% to £68million. Investors may have been expecting more – or could just have been bagging their profits after a strong run for the shares.
Solid State (SOLI) said revenue for the first six months of its financial year would be up from £22.5million to £23.5million. Going into the second half of the year, it said its prospects should exceed market expectations. Solid State’s order book stood at a new record of £29.6million at the end of September, which got the thumbs-up from investors as the share price lifted by 13.3%, or 38p, to 323p.
