The Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking and Markets Business Barometer fell to minus 21% from 26% last month, meaning most respondents are negative on the view of the economy.
The eurozone crisis continued to escalate throughout May as fears grew over the health of the Spanish economy and the possibility of Greece exiting the euro.
Trevor Williams, chief economist at Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking & Markets, said: "The renewed concern around the eurozone is clearly having an impact on businesses' sentiment towards prospects for the UK economy and, to a lesser extent, to their own prospects."
Companies also became less confident about their own prospects, although the decline was not as severe as the sentiment towards the broader economic outlook.
Businesses' confidence in relation to their own prospects currently stands at 35%, down eight points on April's 43%, Lloyds said, which still remains higher than during the worst of the financial crisis in 2008/09.
The survey data suggest an underlying 0.2% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) between April and June, Lloyds said, but only once the impact of the Diamond Jubilee is taken into account, which is likely to have reduced growth by 0.5 percentage points.
The most notable declines in confidence in May came in the North and Midlands and in the retail and distribution sector.
The deepening troubles in the eurozone have also hit confidence on stock markets.
Debt-ridden Greece, which is in its fifth year of recession, faces a crucial election later this month, which has been branded a referendum on whether it will stay in the eurozone and stomach more painful austerity measures.
Meanwhile, there are fears over the health of Spain's banking sector, after its fourth biggest lender, Bankia, said it needed a 19 billion euro (£15.2 billion) bail-out. In the UK, banking stocks have been among the worst hit.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.
Costco Wholesale Corp. Reports Operating Results (10-Q) - GuruFocus
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) filed Quarterly Report for the period ended 2012-05-06.
Costco Whole Cp has a market cap of $37.04 billion; its shares were traded at around $87.8 with a P/E ratio of 23.4 and P/S ratio of 0.4. The dividend yield of Costco Whole Cp stocks is 1.3%. Costco Whole Cp had an annual average earning growth of 9.3% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Costco Whole Cp the business predictability rank of 5-star.
This is the annual revenues and earnings per share of COST over the last 10 years. For detailed 10-year financial data and charts, go to 10-Year Financials of COST.
Highlight of Business Operations:
Net sales increased $1,661 or 8.2%, and $6,078 or 10.2% in the third quarter and first thirty-six weeks of 2012, respectively. These increases were attributable to an increase in comparable warehouse sales and sales at the 20 net new warehouses opened since the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2011.Gasoline price inflation positively impacted net sales by approximately $141 or 70 basis points, and $789, or 133 basis points during the third quarter and first thirty-six weeks of 2012, respectively, which resulted from a 6% and 13% increase in the average sales price per gallon during the third quarter and first thirty-six weeks of 2012, respectively. Changes in foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar negatively impacted net sales by approximately $151, or 75 basis points, and $192, or 32 basis points during the third quarter and first thirty-six weeks of 2012, respectively. The negative impact in the third quarter of 2012 was primarily due to negative impacts in the exchange rates of the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso of approximately $86 and $48, respectively. The negative impact in the first thirty-six weeks of 2012 was primarily due to negative impacts of the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar of approximately $150 and $103, respectively, partially offset by a positive impact of the Japanese yen of approximately $76.
Gross margin as a percent of net sales increased five basis points compared to the third quarter of 2011. Gross margin for core merchandise categories (food and sundries, hardlines, softlines, and fresh foods) decreased 21 basis points, primarily due to decreases in food and sundries and hardlines margins resulting from our investment in merchandise pricing. Excluding the effect of gasoline price inflation on net sales, gross margin for core merchandise categories decreased 14 basis points. Gross margins in our warehouse ancillary and other businesses’ increased seven basis points as a percent of total net sales, primarily due to higher gross margins in our gasoline business. The gross margin comparison was also positively impacted by 21 basis points due to a $6 LIFO inventory charge in the third quarter 2012 compared to a $49 LIFO charge in the third quarter of 2011. Increased penetration of the Executive Membership 2% reward program negatively impacted gross margin by two basis points due to increased spending by Executive Members. Changes in foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar negatively impacted gross margin by approximately $17 in the third quarter of 2012.
Gross margin as a percent of net sales for the first thirty-six weeks of 2012 decreased 20 basis points compared to the first thirty-six weeks of 2011. Gross margin for the core merchandise categories decreased 26 basis points, primarily due to decreases in food and sundries, hardlines, and softlines. Excluding the effect of gasoline price inflation, gross margin for core merchandise categories decreased 14 basis points due to our investment in merchandise pricing. The gross margin comparison was positively impacted by eight basis points due to a $9 LIFO inventory charge in the first thirty-six weeks of 2012 compared to a $55 LIFO charge in the first thirty-six weeks of 2011. Increased penetration of the Executive Membership 2% reward program negatively affected gross margin by two basis points due to increased spending by Executive Members. Changes in foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar negatively impacted gross margin by approximately $20 for the first thirty-six weeks of 2012, primarily due to negative impacts of the Mexican peso of approximately $17.
Net cash used in investing activities totaled $517 in the first thirty-six weeks of 2012 compared to $1,238 in the first thirty-six weeks of 2011, a decrease of $721. This decrease was primarily attributable to net cash provided by purchases, maturities and sales of investments of $393 in the first thirty-six weeks of 2012, compared to net cash used by these activities of $589 in the first thirty-six weeks of 2011, a difference of $982, which was in anticipation of the $900 repayment of long-term debt in the third quarter, described below. This was partially offset by an increase in cash in the first thirty-six weeks of 2011 of $165 resulting from the initial consolidation of Costco Mexico. Additionally, cash used for property and equipment additions increased $82 in the first thirty-six weeks of 2012 as compared to 2011.
Shopping soccer sides for swearing - yorkshirepost
One of the world’s oldest football leagues is to introduce secret shoppers to spy on officials and players who swear during games, its chairman said.
The Northern League, formed in 1889, could then name and shame the worst offending clubs and provide financial bonuses for those who keep it clean.
The league, which has 46 clubs from Alnwick, Northumberland, to Northallerton, has led a number of high-profile campaigns against swearing, which is contrary to the laws of the game, and which puts off families from watching.
Next season the league will send secret shoppers to monitor games – despite the opposition of certain members opposed to snooping.
League chairman Mike Amos said: “If you go to a Premier League game with 50,000 people there and the players and management are effing and blinding, you can’t hear it, and so in a sense, it doesn’t matter. But if you are at a game with 100 people in the ground, you can hear.
“People say to me ‘it’s a passionate game’ and it is, but it is also a disciplined game.”
Mr Amos said the laws of football allow a referee to send off a player or manager who uses offensive language, but few do.
Match officials may be wary of being marked down by clubs if they tackle the issue – meaning referees would struggle to get promotion through the leagues.
Mr Amos, who has been league chairman for 16 years, said the FA could stamp out the issue if they took a stand, but it seemed reluctant to do so.
A previous attempt to tackle swearing by introducing a zero tolerance policy failed to win the governing body’s backing, after it was initially praised by the FA.
“We are not going to persuade the referees to act without the FA’s backing, so we have to persuade the clubs and their personnel not to do it,” he said.
League chiefs know the worst offending clubs and the chairman said those with managers who swear from the technical area also had a problem with players using bad language. “If the managers are disciplined, then the players tend to be,” he said.
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Print this pageIn-store shopping most trusted, but buying online is overall favorite - CIO Australia
When it comes to where to shop -- online or in-store -- U.S. consumers are split.
A majority (59%) of U.S. consumers say shopping online is their "overall favorite" way to shop, according to a survey from Nielsenwire. Meanwhile, 68% also called online shopping the easiest and most convenient way to shop.
However, traditional in-store shopping hasn't fallen by the wayside. Nielsen reported that 77% of U.S. consumers say shopping in brick-and-mortar stores is the safest, and 69% said it's the most reliable.
"It's no surprise that people are just happier about shopping online," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research. "I think it's becoming easier to shop online. Almost every retailer has greatly simplified the process."
He considers Amazon.com the best online shopping site, with its one-touch buying, ability to compare shipping rates and prices from multiple vendors.
"People often find something in a store and then buy it online to save money," Kerravala said. "Online retailers have gotten smarter."
While in-store and online shopping both have high points, shopping with a mobile device has yet to catch on.
According to Nielsen, shopping by means of smartphones and other mobile devices came in third place across nearly all measures. It was a distant second to online shopping for "most convenient" (38%) and "easiest (27%).
Kerravala agrees that mobile shopping is still difficult, but it's making progress. "In general, the mobile experience is poor for shopping," he said. "It requires too much data entry and the screen is too small to really see your purchase. But FTD has a very good mobile interface. I order flowers for my wife on my mobile device now."
While consumers may not buy products via their smartphones and tablets, they are using their devices while they shop.
In February, comScore reported that more than half of U.S. smartphone users have researched products while in a store. At the end of 2011, nearly one in five smartphone users had scanned product barcodes and nearly one in eight compared prices while in a store.
Kerravala also said that it's far from time to poo poo tried-and-true shopping in a physical store.
"I think there will always be a place for in-store shopping," he added. "It gives you the ability to talk to someone, to try something on. That experience can't be matched online."
Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed. Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.
Read more about e-business in Computerworld's E-business Topic Center.
Is there still a place for the high street as online shopping continues to grow? - femalefirst.co.uk
Online shopping has plenty of perks, the most important being that you can avoid cues and angry people, but then so does shopping on the high street. Which do you prefer?
The question constantly uprises about whether the British high street can survive when online shopping continues to rise. What do you think?
The instant buzz of shopping online has reached a new high for clothes shopping, with 44 per cent of Brits now hitting the net at least once a month or more for their clothing purchases, with a committed 3 per cent doing this daily. This is second only to groceries in terms of the nation’s buying habits, according to new research from Cotton Council International, published today.
Clothes shopping online has risen to 13 per cent - up from only 3 per cent two years ago, with consumers moving away from chain and speciality stores.
New research reveals 42 per cent of consumers now use the internet to compare products and prices across stores; a third go online to browse the latest styles.
Stephanie Thiers-Ratcliffe, International Marketing Manager, Cotton Council International comments: “Our research reveals that there has been a marked uplift for people going online to research and buy clothing, but not at the expense of quality. This trend has seen retailers across the board take more of an interest in their online clothing offering – ensuring the customer experience, delivered both on and offline, is second to none.”
This year’s findings also shows that when shopping, Brits are choosing natural fibres, with over a third feeling that better quality clothing comes from natural fibres. And when shopping it’s cotton that comes out in front as the fabric of choice, with over a half of consumers heralding it as their preferred fibre for the clothes they like to wear the most.
Mirroring the economic climate, only 10% of us bought more than £500 on clothes last year, with the average amount spent being only £230. Over half of Brits fear they have less money to spend on clothing compared to last year, making spotting a bargain more important than ever as 40% of us now admit we buy clothes with at least a 20% discount all or most of the time. We’re also shopping less for ourselves than two years ago, as the figures indicate a 9 per cent drop, which leaves just 40 per cent of us now shopping once a month or more for clothes.
Nonetheless, a prevailing trait for British shoppers remains the desire for quality – with almost 60 per cent of us preferring to spend more on better quality items, with 61 per cent of consumers viewing ‘good quality’ clothes as those that are durable and long-lasting.
Cotton Council International’s biennial research – The Global Lifestyle Monitor Survey (GLM) investigates a wide range of lifestyle issues related to clothing, shopping and textiles among UK residents.
Stephanie Thiers-Ratcliffe, continues: “Today’s shoppers are more vigilant than ever – thinking harder about their clothing purchases and examining what and how much they need to buy. When shoppers are spending their cash they are ensuring that they get the best value by choosing quality items. Our COTTON USA ‘Naturally’ Mark is a symbol of purity, strength, comfort and quality and helps shoppers to identify premium cotton items that are made to last.”
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