Sales at Ladbrokes have soared through the £1bn mark, jumping 11pc to £1.084bn. The betting group has announced a 26pc rise in operating profits to £206.1m in 2012 due to rising revenues from its fixed odds betting machines.
Premier Foods has served up full-year results that show a 17.8pc drop in trading profits to £154.7m and a 12.2pc fall in sales to £1.8bn. In November the company said it was cutting 900 jobs as part of a tough restructuring operation. Today Gavin Derby, chief executive, said the groups had laid the “foundations for further growth” and had “great potential”.
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct is still benefiting from the collapse of rival JJB. In an interim management statement for three months to the end of January, sales rose 21.1pc to £589.5m and gross profits jumped 22.7pc to £244.8m.
There’s a fourth quarter trading up-date from Kingfisher Group showing sales rose 1.5pc to £2.4bn to the beginning of February.
Later in America, Asda will release fourth quarter numbers alongside its parent company, Walmart, the biggest retailer in the world.