Volkswagen sales increase to 6.24m cars despite economic uncertainty and new emissions tests January 10, 2019 Car maker Volkswagen (VW) sold 6.24m passenger cars in 2018, in what was a record-breaking year for the brand, despite slow growth caused by uncertainty in China and a clampdown on emissions standards. Sales were up 0.2 per cent on last year, but down 9 per cent overall. VW said it saw an uptake of [...]
Ford cost-cutting drive expected to hit thousands of jobs in UK and Europe January 10, 2019 Ford has announced cost-reduction plans which are expected to lead to thousands of job losses in the UK and Europe. The car maker, which has 54,000 employees in Europe and 13,000 in the UK, is reviewing its operations across the continent in a major shake-up of its business. The company hopes to save around $14bn [...]
Digital finance technology is wonderful, but we must design it with consumers’ best interests at heart January 10, 2019 Every morning, I browse my phone as I commute to work. I check my emails, the news, Twitter, and increasingly I open my various finance apps. I recently logged into my investment platform app and made a new investment – £1,000 in a startup Swedish retailer. Once the money was invested, I was applauded with [...]
Mifid II launched one year ago and financial brokers are embracing the opportunity January 10, 2019 A year ago, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, commonly referred to as Mifid II, came into force. Arguably the most ambitious and wide-sweeping regulatory reform of the financial services industry in the last decade, it was touted as the death knell of sell-side equity research. Mifid II’s aim was to enhance transparency and [...]
Behavioural science at work: The logic of being illogical January 10, 2019 In real life, imagine if everyone we met was like Jordan Belfort from The Wolf of Wall Street. Unlike for TV, it wouldn’t make for very interesting watching. Why? Because in the real world, we are all united by our differences, as well as our similarities. In an age of personalisation, understanding how individuals react [...]
Debenhams’ Christmas sales slip as it continues talks with lenders over its future January 10, 2019 Sales at troubled department store chain Debenhams dived over Christmas, its latest trading update revealed today, sending its share price even lower. In the 18 weeks to 5 January like-for-like sales fell 5.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. Read more: These are the high street retailers that collapsed in 2018 The [...]
Essential consumer spending slows as shoppers balance Christmas budgets January 10, 2019 Essential consumer spending growth in December fell to the lowest rate in more than two years as shoppers attempted to balance Christmas budgets. Spending on essential goods grew 1.8 per cent year-on-year last month, representing a contraction in real terms, according to data from Barclaycard. Clothing spending fell by three per cent and expenditure in department [...]
Ofo pulls bikes from London streets as international division closes down January 10, 2019 Cycle-sharing platform Ofo has reportedly taken its bikes off the streets of London as the Chinese firm closed its international arm this week. Staff working for the company, which brought hundreds of its bikes to London in 2017, still have their jobs for now after the closure, a source told the Financial Times. Read more: Alibaba-backed [...]
DEBATE: Is HSBC’s ‘we are not an island’ advert an effective strategy? January 10, 2019 Is HSBC’s ‘we are not an island’ advert an effective strategy? Brendon Craigie, co-founder and managing partner at Tyto PR, says YES. HSBC has denied that its adverts are explicitly Brexit-related, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the campaign’s underlying message. Given the social media response, this denial is probably intended to highlight that, [...]
Card Factory reports flat sales for the full year amid challenging retail conditions January 10, 2019 Card Factory today reported a marginal slip in sales amid a tough consumer environment for high street retailers. The greeting card specialist said like-for-like sales dipped 0.1 per cent in the 11 months to the end of December, down from a three per cent increase the year before. The firm saw revenue growth of 3.4 [...]