Domino’s Pizza
There’s some solid growth being reported by pizza delivery chain Domino’s this morning as they update the market for the first quarter of the year. Group sales are up 18.3%, whilst expansion continues both in terms of UK store openings and overseas expansion, too. The company now operates over 1,200 stores across the group.
N Brown Group
Is this another glimmer of hope we see for the retail sector this morning, with full year numbers from catalogue shopping firm N Brown? Yes, they’re not on the high street, but perhaps there’s some solace to be had that – as Boohoo .com showed yesterday – Amazon isn’t eating everyone’s lunch! Group revenue may have crept in just ahead of consensus analyst forecasts, but earnings per share were significantly better, hinting that costs are very much under control.
Taylor Wimpey
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey have issued a trading update for the year to date, ahead of their AGM which will be held later today. Although the company is keen to stress it sees activity being weighted in the second half of the year, the bad weather of recent months does seem to be taking a toll. The order book value for the first sixteen weeks is down £55m (about 2.5%) on a year ago, despite building cost inflation running at around 3-4%. Cancellation rates are up from 10% to 13% and the average sale rate is falling. Can this all be explained by the beast from the East, or is the party coming to an end for the sector?
