Posted on 22 March 2013 by Gerald Brent
US corporates, especially tech corporations, represent the most liquid corporations in the world. Moody’s has estimated that the US tech sector holds $550bn in cash reserves, a vast proportion of 38% of all corporate cash reserves in the US. To further narrow this insight, Apple alone held $137bn in cash at the end of 2012. For context, any prospective Cyprian bailout is estimated to cost under €20bn; the British government’s immediate bailout of the banking sector in 2008 was £50bn; and the entire EU budget in 2007 equated to €120.7bn…. Read more
Posted on 21 March 2013 by Gerald Brent
Taking “24m people out of tax”, a freezing of the alcohol duty escalator, and more realistic growth forecasts seem to be the big headlines, or rumoured to be headlines resulting or will result from the 2013 budget in the UK. There seems to be little mention of investment, save in social housing – something which, of course, seems to be completely consistent with any conservative growth estimates for the economy. Indeed, the coalition can only take 24 million people out of tax — with a raising in the tax-free allowance… Read more
Posted on 20 March 2013 by Nicholas Wyatt
Prior to the last week, the word ‘Cyprus’ probably conjured up images of an idyllic holiday destination in the Mediterranean or, at a push if you’re a football fan, APOEL Nicosia’s heroic run to the Champions League quarter final last year. This week however, it has become associated with one thing and one thing only: a bank deposit levy. As part of a €10bn bailout package agreed in Brussels, a one-off tax on savings was to be levied, but the plan was today left in tatters as MPs voted against… Read more
Posted on 20 March 2013 by Gerald Brent
Sainsbury’s looks to be gaining ground on Tesco, at least in terms of sales revenue as the third largest (following Asda and Tesco) supermarket group announced a fourth quarter sales increase of 7.1% (excluding fuel). This, in conjunction with Tesco’s shrinking grocery market share, seems to make Sainsbury’s the biggest ‘winner’ following the horsemeat scandal, as consumers flock to the seemingly better quality meats and provisions in the iconic orange branded stores. Whenever an industry-wide scandal or external shock racks a market or industry, it is a race for PR… Read more
Posted on 19 March 2013 by Kate Moody
The John Lewis Partnership is made up of 84,700 permanent staff, or Partners, who own 39 John Lewis shops and 290 Waitrose supermarkets. The Partners also run a John Lewis e-commerce and catalogue business, a production unit, and a farm. The Partners share in the company’s benefits and profits. On March 7th, the company’s financial results for the year ended 26 January 2013 were released. The release pointed to a company that was outperforming with strong results, even in the current economic climate, when many other companies were struggling to… Read more
Posted on 19 March 2013 by Ashirvad Tomar
Premier Farnell (Farnell) is a leading distributor of electrical and electronic components. In 2009, it acquired CadSoft Computer, a publisher of computer-aided design (CAD) software for the design of printed circuit boards (PCBs). While sales of CadSoft products will in themselves contribute only a small amount to Farnell’s revenues, the acquisition shows how Farnell and its rivals are competing on service as well as price. Farnell is a leading high service technology distribution company. This means that it offers customers a wide range of electronic parts, with rapid order turnaround… Read more
Posted on 18 March 2013 by Gerald Brent
JD Wetherspoon has called for “tax parity” with British supermarkets citing that the large supermarkets benefit better from the current tax system than pubs. Now, a business calling for tax parity, i.e. equal treatment fiscally, with reasons for doing so limited to the same reasons any other business can give, i.e. inflation, can only be solipsistic. For it is not just JD Wetherspoon and their 800 or so pubs which suffer from a decline in the value of the £, or currently surging inflation, but all other actors in the… Read more
Posted on 18 March 2013 by Gerald Brent
As the Cyprian government seizes private assets, and as freedom of speech in the press is about to be curtailed in the UK, a global downturn has proven to be sufficient for various entities to erode the very structures necessary for good business. Above all, business values consistency. And although business has reacted in the UK, in general, quite well to the drop in corporation tax and other supply-side measures, business especially international business does not appreciate hasty reform especially in fundamental areas of the law, in this instance freedom… Read more
Posted on 14 March 2013 by Gerald Brent
With Deloitte administrating the sale of HMV’s stores and assets, Asda has expressed interest in the company’s brand, an intangible which had gone largely unrecognised by previous suitors. Assuming Asda, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walmart, have done their maths or cost-benefit analyses correctly, the prospect of HMV stores run by, or even situated inside large Asda stores raises questions about the conventional institutional-investor’s approach to “dying” brands and firms. For example, the specialist investor Hilco, reputed for its experience in large divestment operations, has built its own brand on liquidating… Read more
Posted on 11 March 2013 by Goska Kafel
Play.com, the online retailer owned by Rakuten, is closing its UK direct retail store business and became an online marketplace. From March 2013, the company will no longer sell directly to customers and will instead, employ a business model similar to Amazon and eBay, allowing its users to list their own items (e.g. DVDs, video games, and electronics), on its website for sale. The closure is a result of the closing of a tax loophole, which exempted items under £15 (around $24) in value being imported to the UK from… Read more
