Supermarket price war attracts short sellers to record positions in sector June 9, 2015 It's no secret UK supermarkets have been under the cosh both in terms of the ongoing price war with discounters Aldi and Lidl, as well as several problems of their own making. Now it seems short sellers are making hay while the sun shines. The sector has attracted record interest from short sellers, with [...]
WPP shareholders revolt against Sir Martin Sorrell’s £43m pay (but not as many as last year) June 9, 2015 More than a fifth of WPP shareholders have refused to back Sir Martin Sorrell's £43m pay package – but that is less than this time last year. At today's AGM 19.5 per cent of investors in the marketing and advertising giant voted against Sorrell's pay, while 2.7 per cent absented. While that means [...]
National Blood Week: Businesses including Waterstones, Santander, Fullers and Odeon drop letters to support #MissingType campaign June 9, 2015 Letters are going missing around the UK. But it's nothing to do with Royal Mail… Business logos and London street signs – including Downing Street – are missing letters as part of a major new campaign to increase the numbers of blood donors. Companies as varied as banking group Santander, ale brand London [...]
BT’s billion-pound EE deal raises “significant” competition concerns, says regulator June 9, 2015 BT's deal to buy mobile network EE for £12.5bn has raised "significant" competition concerns, according to regulators. The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) will address the concerns after fast-tracking the probe into the more detailed second phase following a request from BT. "We have found that there is a real risk that the merger could [...]
Check out Virgin Money’s Sex Pistols credit cards June 9, 2015 "Cause I wanna be anarchy … it's the only way to be," sang punk band the Sex Pistols over thirty years ago. Now, though, it looks like their artwork will be gracing something vital to the smooth functioning of a modern society… Richard Branson-backed Virgin Money, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in November, has unveiled [...]
Just Eat share price falls as it raises £445m June 9, 2015 Shares in Just Eat, the takeaway site which listed last April, fell 1.9 per cent to 416p this morning after it announced it had raised £445m through a placing and open offer. The company – listed in the UK but founded in Denmark – announced in May that it was planning to raise cash to [...]
HSBC to rebrand UK retail banking arm – or possibly sell it June 9, 2015 HSBC will rebrand its UK retail banking arm as part of a move to ring-fence it from the rest of the group. Chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who this morning revealed HSBC was cutting 25,000 jobs worldwide, of which 8,000 are expected to be UK jobs, said he was not certain he would keep the [...]
HSBC job cuts: Unions slam move as punishing staff for “boardroom misconduct” June 9, 2015 Could Canary Wharf become a stage for the next major picket line? HSBC staff cuts have been blasted by unions, claiming the bank's employees are being “punished for boardroom misconduct”. This morning Europe's biggest bank revealed it was cutting up to 25,000 jobs worldwide, as it looks to make $5bn (£3.25bn) savings. Around [...]
This animation shows how 12 iconic company logos have changed over time: Coca-cola, Nike, Google, Apple, Microsoft June 9, 2015 Logos are key to how customers remember and relate to a company – meaning many avoid changing them too often. However, Zing Ecommerce has put together an animation showing how much some of the world's most widely recognised logos have changed over time. "It might surprise you how the most recognisable logos of some of [...]
Plus500 has unfrozen 8,457 customer accounts June 9, 2015 Struggling spreadbetter Plus500 today announced it's unfrozen 8,457 customer accounts – saying that while the majority had resumed trading it was still too early to anticipate ongoing behavior of those customers. The Aim-listed firm said 5,205 of its customers whose accounts has been unfrozen had resumed trading – 61 per cent of the total number that are now [...]