Dunelm to simplify after profits drop in ‘difficult and disappointing’ year September 12, 2018 Homeware retailer Dunelm has said it will simplify the business following a “difficult and disappointing” year, which saw profits fall nearly seven per cent. Read more: Mike Ashley proclaims House of Fraser strategy will be a 'game changer' The figures The company said revenue for the year ending 30 June was £1.05bn – 10 per cent [...]
TfL bus provider wins £50m in funding from Lloyds bank for hybrid and electric vehicles September 12, 2018 Transport for London’s (TfL) main bus provider has won £50m in funding from Lloyds Bank to invest in hybrid and all-electric vehicles. Metroline, which owns a fleet of over 1,600 buses, will use the first tranche of funding, totalling £10m, to buy 37 new double-decker hybrid buses. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has pledged [...]
East Coast rail replacement may not cope better than collapsed franchise, MPs warn September 12, 2018 The rail line that will replace the failed East Coast franchise may not cope any better with the problems that led to its predecessor's collapse, MPs have warned. Lilian Greenwood, chair of the Transport Select Committee, said MPs “cannot reassure passengers that the arrangements for the East Coast Partnership will more successfully overcome the systemic difficulties [...]
Energy giant SSE issues profit warning, sending shares plunging September 12, 2018 SSE delivered a profit warning today, sending shares plunging as it blamed a combination of warm weather and higher than expected gas prices. Operating profit for the first five months of the year will be £190m lower than predicted, the energy supplier said in a trading update. Shares dropped eight per cent in early morning [...]
As seen on TV: We get some tips on investing in film memorabilia September 12, 2018 I wasn't expecting to, but I grinned excitedly when I saw – with my very own eyes – two of the wand boxes from the first Harry Potter film. Maybe that’s just my inner fangirl shining through, but it’s that emotional reaction that has made the film memorabilia industry so huge. It’s that rare glimpse [...]
Gap between UK and US bankers’ bonuses widening as EU rules bite September 12, 2018 The gap between bankers’ bonuses in the UK and US is widening due to EU rules on bonus caps. Bankers in the UK have seen their bonus pool shrink nine per cent over the last three years, falling to the same level it was in 2008 at $19.6bn (£15bn). Read more: Hammond: BoE boss Carney [...]
Barclays takes on HSBC as it opens up mobile app to rival bank accounts September 12, 2018 Barclays is taking on HSBC as it opens up its app to rival banks accounts, it announced today. The high street bank will be the first to let customers bring current accounts from other providers into its mobile banking platform using Open Banking technology. The ability to aggregate accounts is already offered by HSBC's Connected Money, which uses so-called screen-scraping to access accounts at competitor [...]
The rise of Chinese finance puts pressure on London and New York as top financial centres September 12, 2018 London and New York remain the top two financial centres in the world but Asian cities are hot on their heels, according to an authoritative ranking to be published today. A major report from London-based think tank and consultancy Z/Yen will show the average ranking of financial centres in Asia and the Pacific region rose [...]
British Airways suffers turbulence as brand perception drops September 12, 2018 Last week, British Airways (BA) made headlines as 380,000 customer payment cards were affected by a severe data hack which compromised the personal and financial details of several customers. Unfortunately for BA, this news comes after a difficult couple of years which it has spent battling with negative press associated with a large-scale IT glitches, [...]
Jaguar boss warns of job losses in event of bad Brexit deal September 11, 2018 The boss of the UK’s largest car maker has warned that a bad Brexit deal could lead to tens of thousands of job losses. Jaguar Land Rover chief executive Ralf Speth also said friction at the border could hit production costs by as much as £60m every day earlier today. In one of the most [...]