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CFD Traders DiaryMore retail sector woe at DSG International17/1/2007
It
has been a fairly quiet start so far in London, with the focus once
again on a mixed set of corporate results from the blue chips. Mid-morning the FTSE 100 index was down a few
points, and the big winner has been SAB Miller, which reported that worldwide underlying beer
volumes rose 10% in the third quarter to end-December and are now up by 9.5%
for the year to date, compared with 9% in the first half of the year. The group's financial performance was in line
with previous expectations, and the shares are currently trading up 3%.
Against this there was more disappointment from the
retail sector with a sharp fall at DSG International after its Christmas trading
statement. DSGI, previously Dixons,
reported a very weak performance in Italy and France. UniEuro in Italy saw a 7% drop in like-for-like sales while France will not meet expectations this year. The shares were down a hefty 8% on huge
volume.
Elsewhere, Home Retail, the
owner of Argos and Homebase, performed rather better although third quarter
like-for-like sales rose just 0.2% at Argos and fell 2.9% at Homebase in a
market that showed little or no growth until just before Christmas. It added that the retail environment is
likely to remain challenging. Woolworths' like-for-like sales at its
retail chain fell 4.6% in the six weeks to 13 January which pointing to a
slight improvement over the holiday period from previous weeks. Woolworths added that it expected full-year
trading profit to meet analysts' current forecasts, and there was a small
recovery rally on the news. |
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