American Apparel issue investor warning
Teen clothing retailer American Apparel (NYSEMKTL:APP) stated on Tuesday that it may not have enough cash to keep the business going beyond 12 months, and warned shareholders and investors that they may not see a return on their money.
The company is in the midst of a law suit with its founder and former Chief Executive Dov Charney over claims of defamation and alleged misuses of funds, and has faced several warnings over the “gratuitously sexual” nature of its adverts.
The American retailer has been posting losses for the last five years, issuing a bankruptcy warning in 2011. Its net loss for the quarter is expected to be at $19 million, compared with $16 million a year earlier.
American Apparel stock has fallen nearly 80% this year, closing up last night at 20 cents per share.
Johnston Press trades lower on revenue drop
Newspaper publisher Johnston Press (LON:JPR) is trading down 3.2 percent this morning after publishing its half yearly results.
The company saw revenue fall by over 4 percent to £128.9 million, due to a fall in advertising revenue. Total advertising sales fell by 5.1% to £80.6 million, although digital advertising grew 17.5% year-on-year to £16.5 million.
Johnston Press Chief Executive Ashley Highfield said the company is potentially looking to consolidate its resources, according to the Telegraph.
“Our lawyers have looked at a number of different combinations as a desk exercise and you could get it done. You might have to sell one or two things but for the most part there is not much overlap.”
The company had warned that it would struggle to hit targets for full and half yearly profits, and have cut costs by £7.2 million to offset revenue declines.
Scotland-based Johnston Press runs over 200 local titles across the UK, including the Yorkshire Post and Belfast News.
Airport shops face boarding pass rebellion
Airport shops are facing a “grassroots rebellion” by customers who are refusing to show boarding passes at the checkout.
Stores are using customer’s boarding passes to check their destination; if it is outside the EU, the store do not have to pay VAT. They are now being urged to pass the savings onto their customer instead.
Many fliers have been surprised to hear that it is not necessary to show a boarding pass at the till in order to buy something at the airport, and any shops have reportedly been saying that showing a pass is a legal requirement, and refused to serve customers without one.
Treasury minister David Gauke said VAT relief at airports was intended to reduce prices for travellers, not be a windfall gain for shops.
Customers of stores including WH Smith, Boots and Dixons are now refusing to show their boarding passes when asked.
The Independent’s travel editor, Simon Calder, told BBC Radio 5 live that there are “all kinds of stories given by retailers to explain why passengers should show their boarding passes, including that it is for security reasons”, which he said is “complete tosh”.
Pearson sells Economist share for £469m
Publishing group Pearson (LON:PSON) has agreed to sell its 50% stake in the Economist Group to the Agnelli family, in a deal worth £469 million.
The sale will make the Italian family the largest investor in the weekly publication. The announcement comes just after Pearson sold the Financial Times to Japan’s Nikkei, in an effort to move their business further into Education.
Pearson chief executive John Fallon said: “Pearson is proud to have been a part of the Economist’s success over the past 58 years, and our shareholders have benefited greatly from its growth. Pearson is now 100% focused on our global education strategy.”
The Agnelli family’s holding group Exor said the sale would bring their 4.7 percent stake up to 43.4.
In a statement, John Elkann, CEO of Exor, said:
“We are convinced of the huge potential that still lies ahead and particularly in The Economist’s ability to seize the many development opportunities linked to the digitisation of the media industry.”
Pearson are currently trading down 0.34 percent.
Wage growth slows, unemployment steady
British wage growth has fallen by more than expected in the three months to June, according to figures released by the Office of National Statistics this morning.
Growth in average weekly earnings fell 2.4 percent on the year in the last quarter, slowing down from 3.2 percent the quarter before.Unemployment held steady at 5.6% after a surprise increase in May, the first since 2013. Unemployment in the three months preceding June was 1.85 million, up 25,000 from the previous quarter.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits, dropped by 4,900 to 792,400 in July, after a small increase in June.
Official figures will be watched closely as the Bank of England debates when to raise rates. Mark Carney said last week that he could not give an exact date – but analysts expect it to be around the turn of the year.
3 Undervalued Oil Stocks
Oil stocks haven’t been this cheap for years.
But the fact is global demand is still rising.
This could be a great opportunity.
In this Free Special Report we reveal 3 undervalued oil stocks.
Inside:
-
The British giant offering seriously “deep value”.
-
A turnaround story with a twist.
-
The forgotten mid-cap with some big prospects.
Take a look now – while you can.
Download the Undervalued Oil Report for free now.
A copy will be sent to you immediately.
Html code here! Replace this with any non empty text and that's it.
Galvan Research And Trading Limited
Authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority
Registered Office:
CMA House, Newham Road, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2SU
Company No: 05054098
Risk warning
All investments are speculative and prices may change quickly and go down as well as up. There is an extra risk of losing money when shares are bought in some smaller companies including “penny shares”. There can be a big difference between the buying price and the selling price of these shares and if they have to be sold immediately, you may get back much less than you paid for them or in some circumstances, it may be difficult to sell at any price.
Trading in Contracts for Difference (CFDs) and forex may not be suitable for all investors due to the high risk nature of the products. You may lose all of your initial stake through the use of leverage and may be required to make additional payments by way of margin on a frequent and sometimes daily basis. Failure to do so can result in the closure of part or all of your position.
The value of a CFD or forex may be affected by a variety of factors, including but not limited to, price volatility, market volume, foreign exchange rates and liquidity. CFDsand forex are short term trading tools. Commissions on CFDs are charged on the leveraged amount (not the deposit) and therefore costs can build up when frequently traded. You should evaluate potential losses against affordability. Extended runs of losses as well as profits can occur.
Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. If in any doubt, please seek further independent advice. Tax laws may be subject to change.
Privacy notice
By registering your details, you request us hereby to provide you on a continuing basis (in writing, email and by telephone) with investor updates, information on our own products and services and those of selected partners and third parties. To enable us to do so, and for our marketing purposes, you agree that we may process and hold your data in both manual and electronic form. You are free to “unsubscribe” from this service at any time. Should you wish to ask about the information we hold concerning you, you are invited to contact us at the above address. At no time will we provide your personal data to any other company except to our own associates, affiliates or agents. This notice is issued by Galvan Research And Trading Limited in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act. Be aware our telephone lines may be recorded or monitored for training purposes. To read our Privacy Notice in full please visit our website.
Co-op bank narrowly avoids hefty fine
Co-operative bank has escaped a fine, with sources at the FCA admitting that it was the first time a bank has escaped a fine in a situation this severe.
An investigation into a governance and risk management crisis which led to it being rescued by hedge funds two years ago has concluded that they were at fault, but an £120m fine will not be imposed.
The reason the FCA gave was that the bank was not in a financial position to pay a fine. Georgina Philippou, the FCA’s acting director for enforcement, agreed that the banks dealings were misleading to investors, but stated that “it is vitally important that Co-op Bank’s capital resources are directed towards improving its resilience.”
The bank is now under new management and Chairman Dennis Holt made it clear that the running has changed.
“On behalf of the bank, I would like to apologise again to customers for these past failings and reassure them that the bank is a significantly stronger organisation today under the leadership of the current senior management team.”
ITV buys stake in Youtube’s Channel Mum
ITV announced that it has bought a minority stake in the YouTube network Channel Mum, as part of an effort to invest beyond TV production.
The channel was launched by Siobhan Freeguard, founder of parenting website Netmum, which provides a forum for mothers to share advice and experience. It aims to display the “honest face of parenting” in a series of videos by the most successful ‘mum vloggers’.
The channel has only 2,140 subscribers to date, but has already negotiated deals with Pampers and Panasonic. Simon Pitts, managing director of online, pay, interactive and technology at ITV told the Guardian:
“Siobhan Freegard is a hugely successful entrepreneur with a proven track record in digital business. She and her team at Channel Mum have a brilliant understanding of content, advertisers and mothers and how they can work together to produce genuinely appealing, authentic content.”
Miranda Wadham on 11/08/2015
Robot Buddy is crowdfunding success
Buddy, the world’s first affordable companion robot has just completed an impressive crowdfunding campaign, raising $100,000 in just 24 hours.
After a month of the campaign, which closes tomorrow, Buddy has raised $395,325 through 644 people. The company operated a rewards-based model, with each investor pledging differing amounts of money in return for Buddy accessories, or a whole Buddy robot. Raising that sort of money in such a short space of time is no mean feat; so, what made it so successful?
Firstly, the expertise and passion behind the company is clear. CEO Rodolphe Hasselvander’s fascination with robots begun as a child. After watching movies like Star Wars, he became convinced that one day, we will all have our own R2D2 at home. He was an executive director at CRIIF, a robotics research company, for ten years before branching out and creating Buddy because it was something he strongly believed the world was lacking. He says:
“It’s been a long time dream of mine to bring a companion robot to mass market. Buddy is the manifestation of this dream: a friendly robot that helps with day to day life, but also boasts the latest in robotics technology”.
Hasselvander employed crowdfunding and tech PR company, Blazon PR, to be in charge of strategy. With so many crowdfunding platforms available, what made them choose Indiegogo?
According to Michael Raven, Blazon’s founder, they chose the platform for their recent success of technology campaigns:
“We’ve seen a steady rise in the funding of Indiegogo hardware technology on the platform, and I think moving forward, the platform caters for these types of campaigns more than Kickstarter or other platforms do.
For a crowdfunding campaign to be that so successful, marketing is key – especially utilizing free platforms on social media.
“As a PR company, we specialise in Growth Hacking and ensuring that each campaign is spread around the web on platforms like Reddit, Product Hunt and to communities such as Groups on Facebook. We also do a lot of work on Social Media, building accounts on Instagram and Twitter, ensuring that we’re having the correct conversations and interactions,” Raven said.
However, perhaps its success isn’t all that surprising; Buddy has plenty of organic reasons why it’s worth funding.
Buddy the robot can help children learn through interactive games and tests, connect to social networks and video calls, patrol your house whilst you’re away and alert you to any problems and even help care for the elderly, detecting unusual activity or falls and providing medication reminders.
Furthermore, its opensource platform aims to democratise robotics; it’s an app developers dream, and possibly he product’s real USP. App developers can build software to customise the Buddy experience with the Buddy Developer Edition.
Whilst having a future world full of robots seems like a sci-fi movie rather than reality, several companies are waking up to the usefulness of robotics in day-to-day life. The world’s first hotel staffed almost entirely by robots opened in Japan this summer; if it proves effective, many more could be set to follow. Buddy’s Indiegogo campaign ends this week – for more information on how to get involved, visit their campaign page here.
Miranda Wadham on 11/08/2015
Adecco reports under expectations
Adecco’s (VTX:ADEN) Q2 results were announced this morning, coming in under analyst’s expectations.
The company reported a net profit of 177 million euros, compared to the expected 182 million.
However, Adecco believe they will meet their full year goal of boosting its earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) margin above 5.5 percent.
In a statement, Cheif Executive Patrick De Maeseneire said:
“We are committed to achieving our EBITA margin target of above 5.5 percent in 2015, which is dependent on an acceleration of revenue growth in the second half of the year. Given the trends in our business and the current economic outlook, and helped by an easier comparison base, we continue to expect such pick-up.”.
Adecco is one of the biggest providers of temporary and permanent staffing. The company is currently trading down 2.37% on the news.