Phones 4U eyes sale after conscious uncoupling with Vodafone September 7, 2014 All options are being considered at struggling high street mobile retailer Phones 4U after the firm was dropped by its key partner Vodafone in favour of a deeper contract with rival retailer Carphone Warehouse. During a call with the firm’s investors last Monday chief executive David Kassler said deep cost-cutting or a sale or merger [...]
Fashion chain Hobbs winds up sister label NW3 after £1.9m loss September 7, 2014 Hobbs’ trendy NW3 fashion line is to disappear by the end of the year as part of chairman Phil Wrigley’s turnaround plan for the loss-making group. The former New Look boss, who joined Hobbs in January, is leading a restructuring of the retailer after it suffered a £1.9m loss last year and saw sales slump [...]
Red is the new black at retailer Net-A-Porter September 7, 2014 Online luxury group Net-A-Porter enjoyed a 23 per cent rise in sales last year thanks to growth across its three websites, despite the business remaining in the red. The group, which is owned by Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont, said revenues jumped to £533m in the year to 29 March 2014 as the launch of new [...]
Is UK recovery taking hold at last? Business confidence is at its highest level in a decade September 7, 2014 Confidence appears to be booming among UK firms, with businesses planning to increase investment budgets over the next year. Some economists have feared the recovery is overly reliant on consumption and borrowing, rather than more sustainable business investment. Yet optimism this summer has hit its highest level in more than a decade, according to professional [...]
Household spending rises – and luxury goods are making a comeback September 7, 2014 Household spending was up in August compared to 2013’s figure, as the economic recovery continues to grow, industry data showed today. Confident shoppers spent more on luxury goods like hotels and restaurants, as well as splashing out on shoes and clothes, according to figures from Visa Europe. Overall spending was up two per cent on [...]
Interview: YouGov’s Anthony Wells on dropping a Scottish independence bombshell September 7, 2014 “Polling is powerful stuff,” YouGov’s resident political expert Anthony Wells explains. “Any poll is a snapshot, but they are sort of self-fulfilling. If a party is doing well and people see it as doing well then they are more likely to back it.” That’s what’s happening in Scotland, Wells adds. If anyone understands the power [...]
Co-operative Group hires City headhunters to find board members September 7, 2014 The Co-operative has kicked off its search for a new chair by appointing City headhunters Odgers Berndtson to grill potential applicants for the high profile role. The mutual, currently chaired by Co-op insider Ursula Lidbetter, is hunting for the first independent chairman in its 150-year history in the wake of radical governance reforms voted through [...]
Nisa’s strong results mask 2014 challenges September 7, 2014 NISA Retail, the independent shop supplier, saw its turnover jump 10 per cent to £1.6bn during the year to March, with profits rising to £5.3m. The results, from the group’s companies house filing, disguise the challenging year that Nisa has seen since March. In July Costcutter changed its supplier from Nisa to Palmer and Harvey, [...]
Alibaba listing’s legal fees set to dwarf Facebook September 7, 2014 ALIBABA, the Chinese e-commerce giant that sells more than Amazon and Ebay combined and is seeking to raise over $21bn (£12.8bn) in its float this month, will pay some of the highest legal fees for a US listing, six times what Facebook paid two years ago. The legal fees for Alibaba’s public listing, $15.8m according [...]
CBeebies schools to open in China as part of BBC tie-up with Popular September 7, 2014 THE BBC’S commercial arm has signed a deal with Singapore-based Popular Holdings to roll out a chain of CBeebies-branded English-language schools across China. Starting with openings in Shanghai, followed by Beijing and across mainland China and Hong Kong over the coming years, the deal will see the BBC receive licensing fees from the use of [...]