Tesco announces slump in sales for Christmas period

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Tesco, with 51 stores across Northern Ireland and 8,800 employees, saw a 2.8% drop in sales throughout the UK over the festive period

Christmas proved a struggle for Northern Ireland's second biggest employer as the growing competition from rivals and difficult overseas markets took its toll.

Tesco, which has around 8,800 employees across 51 stores in Northern Ireland, saw its like-for-like sales in the six weeks to January 4 across all its UK stores fall by 2.8% Review a same-store basis, excluding fuel.

The company blamed the comparative effect of strong sales in 2012 and a declining grocery market in the UK on the decline, but it comes only a day after Sainsburys revealed its Christmas sales increased in its "best ever" festive period.

"We continued to invest in the most compelling offer for the tens of millions of customers who chose to shop with us this Christmas, but further weakness in the grocery market as a whole continued to impact our performance in the UK, chief executive Philip Clarke said.

"Our ongoing work to 'Build a Better Tesco' in the UK is driving continued improvements for customers, although the effects are being masked in the short term by the strategic changes we have made to improve the long-term sustainability of our business - the transformation of our general merchandise business and the significant reduction in our new store opening programme."

Another significant player on the Northern Ireland retail scene, Marks & Spencer also revealed its results yesterday, and although it posted an apparently better picture than Tesco, it struggled to impress investors.

Total trading for both its food and general merchandising division rose in the eight weeks to January 4 by 1.5% but on a like-for-like basis, excluding new stores, sales fell 0.2%.

Once again, its clothing division failed to counter a 10-quarter decline, falling 2.1%, but sales in the food division grew by 1.6% over the same period.

"We delivered an improved performance in general merchandise over the important Christmas period, with sales up 1.5% in a highly promotional market," Marc Bolland, M&S chief executive commented.

He added: "However, an exceptionally unseasonal October, which saw GM sales down strongly, has resulted in a quarterly performance below our expectations."

Marks & Spencer employs 2,400 people in Northern Ireland in 18 stores. Its third largest UK store is at Sprucefield outside Lisburn.

Paying a price for discounts

Analysis by Simon Neville

Both are retailers keen to offer top-end, high-quality clothing at affordable prices to affluent and aspiring shoppers.

However, the contrast between Ted Baker's and Marks & Spencer's Christmas performance couldn't be more different

M&S, which has been striving to offer more top-end fashion, saw its general sales fall 2.1% on a like-for-like basis for the 13 weeks to December 28, compared with a year earlier.

It introduced heavy discounting in the run-up to Christmas, with chief executive Marc Bolland defending the decision by pointing to rivals like Gap.

By comparison, Ted Baker steadfastly refused to introduce discounting until Boxing Day and benefited from the move as sales jumped 18.3% in the eight weeks to January 4. The equivalent M&S period saw general merchandise sales rise just 1.5%.

Chief executive Ray Kelvin said the good results reflected "the strength of the brand, quality and design of our product".

A time for retailers to take stock

New York to get reprieve from ice-cold weather Wednesday with 20-degree 'warm-up'

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Commuters brave the frigid temperatures Tuesday morning when the wind chill made it feel like 10 below.

Relief is on the way from the record cold that turned New York City into an icebox Tuesday - if you can call 20-degree weather com nyc relief.

"After today we're going to be on a warming trend," said meteorologist Joe Pollina of the National Weather Service. "Tomorrow the high will be in the 20s, as opposed the teens today."

But wait, said Pollina, it gets better.

"By Thursday, it will be just above freezing in most places in the city," he said. "We continue to warm on Friday, to the lower to middle 40s. By Saturday, we could be in lower 50s across the metro area."

And this brutal Tuesday, on which cold weather records tumbled for this date like dominoes across the city, will be a memory.

But, oy, what a memory.

RELATED: RECORD COLD GRIPS DEEP SOUTH, NORTHEAST

That was cold comfort of a sort to the millions of New Yorkers who made the morning commute when the frost was at its fiercest, battling wind chills that got as low in the city as minus 18 degrees at LaGuardia Airport.

The coldest spot in the city was Central Park, where the 4-degree temperature reported at 9:39 a.m. shattered the 118-year-old record low of 6 degrees for this date which was set back on Jan. 7, 1896.

Record lows were also notched at LaGuardia Airport (4 degrees, old record of 11 was set in 1968) and Kennedy Airport (6 degrees, old record of 8 was also set in 1968).

There was also no reprieve from the wicked weather for the million or so public school students who schlepped to classes through the record cold.

Nor was there any break for New Yorkers who have to go outside to earn a living.

"Every time I'm about to go out into the street, I know I have to zip up," said Michael Bell, 48, of the Bronx, who spent the day carrying merchandise into the Gristedes in Chelsea. "You have to keep moving. It's when you stop that the cold sinks in."

PHOTOS: POLAR VORTEX GRIPS NORTH AMERICA

Perry Edwards, a 47-year-old UPS driver, said stepping into warm buildings has been his salvation.

"You have to take breaks, that's the secret," he said. "I try not to expose my skin to the cold for too long. I go into buildings and warm up whenever I can."

His co-worker Anabeth Batista, 45, a Bronx mother-of-three, said she relies on "my hand and foot warmers."

"You can stay out there too long or you freeze and can't move," said a shivering Batista. "It's cold out there."

The face and ears of 50-year-old bicycle deliveryman Miguel Lopez were red - and as raw as the weather.

"I can't feel them," Lopez said as he parked his ride. "It's busy for us today. Everyone wants their food delivered. No one wants to come out."

RELATED: BUNDLE UP: NEW YORKERS HIT WITH RECORD-BREAKING COLD

Letter-carrier Trevon Hendricks, 25, of Brooklyn, said when he saw the forecast was for single digits he broke out the long johns. And he tried to look on the bright side.

"At least it's not Monday," he said. That's when people get the most mail, after the Sunday break. I spend a good four to six consecutive hours outside."

By the time Hendricks was wrapping his route, the temperature had inched up to 10 degrees with a wind chill factor of minus 10.

Jet Blue, which had halted flights in and out of New York City, Newark and Boston as the cold set in, also got back to business and resumed flying Tuesday.

The cold snap was caused by a "polar vortex" carrying bone-chilling Arctic air that started torturing much of the country's midsection earlier this week.

"It's going to get very cold, very quickly," Mayor de Blasio warned Monday, as the big chill began descending on the city. "We will get down to the single digits. With wind chill, we will be below zero in many parts of the city."

RELATED: POLAR VORTEX GIVING US THE CHILLS 'NOT RARE AT ALL'

Sanitation workers were placed on 12-hour shifts. City workers were sent out to herd the homeless into shelters. The MTA and Port Authority braced for extreme cold. And the utilities brought in extra bodies in the event of power outages.

De Blasio was not exaggerating. The record low temps were accompanied by wind gusts of 50 mph that pushed the mercury even lower.

But all in all, New York City got off lightly.

Elsewhere in America, the freight train of frigid air was blamed for at least 15 deaths.

Airlines canceled more than 3,700 flights within the U.S. by late Monday, bringing the three-day total to more than 8,700 flights scrapped, according to the tracking service FlightAware.com.

The freezing temperatures came on the heels of a wacky weather cycle in New York City that started with last Thursday's snowstorm, followed by a brief warm-up which, in turn, was followed by torrential rains and more cold. Monday's high in the city reached a balmy 54.

And when dawn broke Tuesday, it was only 4 degrees warmer in Gotham than in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the temperature was a big fat zero.

Warmer weather is also heading to cities like Chicago, Milwaukee and Indianapolis, which have been in the deep freeze for days.

Sweet relief is also foreseen for cities not used to this kind of weather such as Atlanta, Nashville and Birmingham, Ala., where the temperatures were in the single digits earlier Tuesday.

There was even frost on the white sandy beaches of Pensacola, Fla.

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

20% off Finish Line Coupons & Free Shipping Codes

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Finding Finish Line printable coupons and Price Compare codes for use online or in stores can seem difficult for some consumers and shoppers who need to look through to various sites on the Internet to find coupons that suit their needs the best.

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The coupons found at this site can make things much easier for holiday shoppers or those just looking for a good deal on some of the new offerings from Finish Line. Because the coupons are directly from the right source, consumers can be sure that they are not only getting the best discounts available from Finish Line but also the most accurate and up-to-date coupons available for the store. The coupons range in discount levels and cover a wide variety of merchandise that may appeal to just about anyone.

While some people may just be looking for general coupons to get a particular dollar amount off whatever is purchased, others may be looking for discounts on particular items that are stocked by the store. Coupons that are available cover the full range and offer several different levels so the money that can be saved can be quite significant.

Just about everything sold by the store has some type of coupon available so items such as shoes, backpacks, hooded sweatshirts, boots and nearly every other type of apparel or footwear can have some sort of percentage or dollar amount off of their price with the right coupon.

Many consumers love the sales that can be had through the use of the coupons, but there are also coupons that give an added bonus that can be very beneficial around this time of year. Some of the Finish Line coupon codes feature sales on purchases and also include free shipping on the purchase, making it a truly great deal for the savvy shopper using this type of coupon. These coupons offer some of the best benefits of all for shoppers and consumers alike.

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Monte Mohr: Contingent offer not always the best for seller

Lori and Jeremy from Nolensville ask: "About 30 days ago we accepted an offer on our home from a couple moving here from Ohio. They still have to sell their home but they felt it wouldn't take long to do so. We accepted the contingent offer after being reassured that we would continue to have showings on our place and if we got an offer from a second buyer we could get out of the first agreement if the first folks couldn't close. The problem is, since accepting the contingent offer, we have not had any more showings on our home. Can you tell us what has happened? We were getting two to three showings a week, now we aren't getting any. Has the market changed? Please help!"

Thanks for your question, Lori and Jeremy. Accepting an offer contingent upon the buyers selling their home seems like an innocent thing to do. After all, it "seems" like you would have the Deal Today of all worlds. Having your home sold and still being able to possibly sell for more or better terms, etc. The problem is that when accepting a contingent offer like this, we have just put all of our eggs in someone else's basket.

You see, first of all, we don't know how sellable the buyer's home is, especially in this case, as it is out of state. We don't know how experienced their agent is, if the home is priced correctly, if they can even sell it for what it is actually worth, if it is being marketed well, etc.

Secondly, because of local MLS rules, Realtors must make any property "contingent" in the MLS system when there is an agreed offer of any kind, regardless of terms. When we do that, it highlights that listing in yellow. And most experienced agents won't show a contingent listing to their buyers and take the chance that their buyers may not be able to buy that particular home because of the other pending offer. As an agent, few things are worse than watching a buyer fall in love with a particular home only to find out that it is actually already sold.

I'm so sorry that you guys find yourself in this situation. And what I have shared was not to make you feel worse about the current situation. Only to help you understand why the showings have slowed and to better equip you if you ever find yourselves in this kind of situation again.

What I would recommend to anyone being presented an offer on their home contingent upon the future "sale" of another property is to simply thank that buyer for their sincere interest in your home and let them know that you would love to entertain an offer from them to purchase your home once they have a solid contract on theirs.

Cyber criminals launch new Target attack

Cyber criminals wreaked havoc in one of the largest security breaches at a US retailer.

Target confirmed Friday that debit card PIN data was stolen in its recent massive breach, reversing its earlier stance that the codes were not part of the hack.

When hackers managed to steal the credit and debit card members numbers of nearly 40 million shoppers, Target customers went on the alert.

The security breach left millions of debit and credit card holders anxious about their personal information being used by thieves.

Now Target customers, like Frank Winstead are ticked off that more scammers are getting in on the action.

The concern now is that consumers across the country have received emails that appear to be from Target.

They are much like the one posted on the retailer's official website, but in reality experts say it appears to be a phishing scam designed to bilk more consumers out of their personal information.

The real Target message contains legitimate links to the websites of the major credit bureaus as well as the FTC.

The bogus one also contains links that look real but they are not legit.

It is just one more thing Winstead says shoppers don't want to have to deal with especially during the holiday season.

Experts with the Better boxed christmas cards Bureau say it's all the more reason to always safeguard your information because you don't want to deal with the fallout that could follow when criminals strike.

The Illusionists extravaganza proves a tricky business

How on earth did they do that? It is the immediate response to a decent magic trick - be it a fiddle with some cards or British hypnotist Derren Brown's magic-whispering some upright citizens into staging an armed robbery - but it is the question no magician will answer. How you saw a lady in half, how you make a motorbike disappear in a blast of firecrackers ... silence on these matters is part of the craft. The thrill of magic, according to the fraternity, lies in its impenetrability.

Magic, like burlesque a decade ago and circus before it, is having quite a moment right now. Once confined to Las Vegas and tea-time kids' shows, men with wands are now popping up everywhere in town: at The Illusionists extravaganza coming to the Arts Centre Melbourne in January, in numerous television shows from Britain and the US and in the recent film Now You See Me, with Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson as master illusionists who stage a bank heist involving mirrors, mass hypnosis and a good deal of showmanship.

Actually, there aren't any men with wands any more. Wands are out. Cloaks are over. Rob Drummond, who researched magical history for his one-man play Bullet Catch, part of next month's Sydney Festival, says there are probably only seven kinds of magic trick, in the same way that there are only seven basic stories, but they are being dressed up differently now.

Cutting edge: The Illusionists ham it up with the old saw trick.

Even the emblematic rabbit has waltzed away with the top hat into oblivion.

I saw The Illusionists 1:0 when it toured to London at a 5000-seat venue; it was a barrage of flashing lights, flying props, zippy dancers and a very loud house band from Los Angeles playing the kind of driving beats you get at speedway meets. Even the magic felt loud. A man was chopped up and appeared to survive as two halves; a magician who looked like Marilyn Manson passed a polo mint through every orifice in his face.

New media has meant that you don't have to go to Las Vegas to see magic or, as a magician, to be seen; Australian magician Jamie Galea got his big break when one of the producers on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show saw him on YouTube.

There is an inherent irony in magicians' insistence that it ruins the fun to know how it's done. All have stories of watching David Copperfield videos over and over again and spending hours trying to master sleight of hand. Galea says he was first inspired by seeing a street performer at an Australia Day event making a ball disappear into a handkerchief. He thinks he was about eight. ''I remember I just didn't let him go, and I would watch with every person he went to, which I'm sure drove him nuts but he actually showed me: he said 'here, kid, here's how it's done'. Which makes me think now how intense I must have been as a kid then!''

Growing up in Glasgow, Drummond learned a trick from his sister's then boyfriend; he was also eight and, as he says, spent the next 12 years practising tricks in front of the mirror.

''It didn't feel time-intensive,'' he says. ''I thought, 'well, I can do this for the rest of my life' but with no real purpose, you know. It does demand doing one thing over and over until you get muscle memory.'' Is that why all magicians are men? ''It may have something to do with why all magicians are introverted and socially awkward,'' he laughs.

You do wonder. All the magicians I meet are actually very personable, but the ability to pull an egg out of someone's ear certainly has the potential to be a compensatory social skill.

''You get into magic because you don't feel impressive,'' Brown - who is something of a phenomenon in Britain - told The Guardian. ''It's the quickest, most fraudulent route to impressing people.''

Galea, who has clearly given considerable thought to the ethics of magic, remembers the rush when he successfully stole his teacher's watch at high school. ''All the kids round me were laughing and it was a thrilling moment,'' he remembers. ''It becomes like a drug." Later he would have bets with fellow magicians about how many watches he could snaffle in a single show; his record was seven. He's not proud of it; it was ''stupid and crazy''.

''That doesn't thrill me at all, that kind of 'oooohhhh look, look how good I am','' he says. That kind of act, he says, is a power trip for the magician rather than something fun for the audience. ''I mean, magic is an amazing skill, but I think there are people who use that to show off and others who do it to give people a great experience everyone can share, where nobody feels stupid for not knowing where their card is. Watch anyone's trick and I think you will instantaneously know what they are trying to do.''

Of course, being the smartest person in the room - or making people think you are - has a tremendous allure.

''That's the reason some magicians don't like other magicians: they realise 'oh, I'm not special around you'. I guess that is a sad moment.'' That neediness is also an unpleasant thing to see in oneself, he agrees, so the defensive response is to bad-mouth your competitor while trying to think of a trick that will be bigger and better than anything he's got.

Don't we all want to be the smartest person in the room? Not entirely. In Bullet Trick, Drummond asks the audience to vote on whether he should reveal how a trick is done. ''Not only magicians say that people don't want to know; people themselves say that,'' he says. ''But the moment you present them with a genuine offer of knowledge, human curiosity takes over. There is always a battle within. Part of them doesn't want to know, but the bigger part cannot resist an insight that will make them part of the club.''

And it turns out all those old-school magicians were right all along.

After they have seen how a trick is done, he says, people usually say they feel a sense of loss. Like Eve eating the apple or luckless pandora las vegas opening the box full of evil, they lament their vanished innocence; at the same time, they had to know. ''That's every story of origin that's ever been,'' agrees Drummond. ''That curiosity is inherent in all of us.''

The Illusionists is at Arts Centre Melbourne, January 3-12. artscentremelbourne.com.au

It's a wintry mess from the Southwest to the Northeast

(cnn news las vegas) - No matter how you spell it, ice is a four-letter word Friday. Just ask folks living anywhere from Texas to Tennessee.

Across this swath of America, birthday plans have been canceled, long-awaited reunions have been put on hold, and weekend plans have become uncertain.

To put some perspective on the scope of the storm, consider that Hot Springs, Arkansas, experienced a record high of 75 on Wednesday. By Friday morning, the city was in the middle of an ice storm.

On Friday, it was colder in Dallas (26 degrees) than in Anchorage, Alaska (34 degrees), prompting the cancellation of the Dallas Marathon and spurring Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to cancel almost 700 flights, about 80% of those scheduled.

Those areas are in the bull's-eye of a treacherous ice storm, threatening to coat everything in its path with up to an inch of frozen water.

Ice is slippery but also heavy. It tends to bring down tree limbs and power lines when accumulations get thick.

Storm deaths

In some cases, the weather has been deadly. At least four deaths have been attributed to the storm.

In Texas, a passenger in a car was killed Thursday in Hockley County when the vehicle lost control and crashed into another car, Sgt. Bryan Witt of the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

An Arkansas man was killed late Thursday when a tree fell on his camper in Pope County, Tommy Jackson, an Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokesman, said Friday. Jackson said the death was related to the weather but couldn't provide details about the weather at the time. Rain and freezing rain were reported in the area Thursday night.

Highway Patrol officials in Oklahoma blamed two deaths on the weather - a 24-year-old man in Owasso and another unidentified person in Muskogee - but did not release details of those incidents.

Officers have responded to 106 weather-related crashes since Thursday morning.

About 116 storm-related injuries have been reported in Oklahoma, including 48 falls, the state health department said.

The storm struck fear in residents.

In Dallas, iReporter Earl Wallace IV said he was on the front porch of his home Friday morning when he heard a loud crack and a rush of wind. A large tree had fallen on two nearby homes.

"One of the homeowners emerged crying and talking on the phone," said the 32-year-old creative director. "The tree had crashed down into her dining room. I felt nervous, shocked and scared for the families inside."

Two homes were damaged - one with a giant hole in the roof - but no one was injured.

Getting ready

In Tennessee, Memphis Light, Gas and Water has 426,000 customers and is preparing for the worst. As of early Friday afternoon, about 5,000 customers were without power.

"MLGW employees have been monitoring this winter storm situation, and we have all of our resources in place should the winter weather hit Memphis and Shelby County," said Jerry Collins Jr., the company's president and CEO. "If indeed a significant storm blankets our city, we are ready to respond."

The ice also makes travel messy - real messy.

Road crews in Memphis are ready to throw down 4,000 tons of sand to give drivers traction, CNN affiliate WMC reported.

The governors of Tennessee and Arkansas declared states of emergency ahead of the worst of the storm.

"The most unsettling aspect about Arkansas' weather for most of us is its looming uncertainty," Gov. Mike Beebe said.

"During severe weather season, we know when conditions are ripe for tornadoes but never exactly where and when they could strike. In winter, that uncertainty takes a different form but can still create widespread anxiety," he said.

"Often, only a few degrees above or below the freezing mark can make the difference between a cold rain, a blanket of snow, an ice storm or a mixture of all of the above."

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, roads were passable overnight, but it was a fine line as temperatures slipped below freezing. The slushy mess slowly turned into crunchy, bumpy ice.

Police urged caution for anyone on the road and reported 21 major car accidents and 32 minor ones Friday.

According to energy provider Oncor, more than 200,000 customers were without power in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area as of Friday morning. This is the largest concentration of outages, with scattered outages elsewhere in the state.

Nearly 30,000 were without power in Arkansas, energy companies reported.

A dark cloud over Dallas events

The National Weather Service predicts a wintry mix of precipitation through Sunday.

That forecast prompted the cancellation of a downtown Dallas holiday parade scheduled for Saturday for the first time in 26 years. The city also called off its annual marathon slated for Sunday and the accompanying Health & Fitness Expo scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

"We regret that the race will not go on as planned, but are confident this decision is in the best interest of our runners, volunteers, spectators and the general public," A Dallas Marathon statement said.

While the focus Friday was on the ice storm stretching from Dallas to Memphis, Mother Nature looked ready to throw another punch.

A wintry mix was forecast for Washington beginning about noon Sunday. The National Weather Service said it has the potential to be an ice storm from late Sunday afternoon through the evening hours, but temperatures are expected to rise above freezing by rush hour Monday.

A new storm entered the West, bringing snow to the Pacific Coast on Friday. The storm brought significant snowfall to Portland, Oregon, and there is a chance for rare snow in Las Vegas on Saturday. This storm will bring another round of wintry weather to the East by late in the weekend.