Ian Pollard – Sports Direct Sweetens The Offer

Sports Direct Intl plc SPD is continuing to push its pre-conditional possible offer for Debenhams at 5p in cash per ordinary share announced on 25 March 2019 but it is now trying to add a sweetener with a proposal to Debenhams under which it would underwrite a £150 million pre-emptive equity issuance to existing Debenhams […]

Debenhams offers a fun social time as profits slide

Debenhams DEB Where shall we take the kids today, darling ? What about Debenhams for a fun social time? Daddy. daddy yes, pleeease ! There used to be only one reason to go to Debenhams and management appears to have completely forgotten what that was.  It was to shop and buy things, you dunderheads. If […]

The High Street – Still Alive And Kicking But Online Threat Grows

Marks & Spencer MKS gives a very brief summary of its trading for the 13 weeks to the 31st December. Group sales rose by 5.9% on a reported basis. Food did well with a rise of 5.6% or 0.6% on a like for like basis and  continuing to increase its market share. Sales in clothing […]

Debenhams Invents The Sentence Without a Verb

Debenhams DEB The year to the 3rd September must have been one of the most boring on  record and the tone of the full year results does nothing to dispel that impression. Like for like sales sales rose 0.7%, EBITDA was down 2.2%, underlying earnings per share declined gently from 7.6p to 7.5p and the […]

Hornby On Its Knees with a Begging Bowl.

Hornby HRN has been forced to go to its shareholders cap in one hand and begging bowl in the other and ask them for a measly £8,000,000 for working capital and other essential items which will, they hope, help keep it afloat. The share price has justifiably nose dived from 109p last August to yesterdays […]

Mothercare Breaks Excuses Record As Worldwide Sales Slump

Mothercare MTC refuses to admit that its full year underlying profits will be below expectations, preferring instead to claim that they will be “within range” of market expectations, not you will note, within “the” range of those expectations.  It also uses virtually every excuse available to modern management on how to avoid blame for its […]

Debenhams & Morrisons delighted but Greggs leads the way

Morrisons MRW claims to have benefited over the 9 weeks to the 3rd January from what it repeatedly describes as an improved shopping trip for its customers. Like for like sales, excluding fuel rose by 0.2%  which may be seen as a good result against a background of the closure of 140 local stores plus further […]