Vinyl revival prompts a boom in turntable sales for John Lewis May 5, 2015 Once seen as the domain of DJs and Hackney hipsters, the humble record has returned to its former glory as a mainstream trend. Past predictions that vinyl would go the way of the cassette tape have proved incorrect, according to John Lewis, which has reported a 240 per cent increase in turntables in 2015. The [...]
Sainsbury’s braced for first loss in a decade as supermarkets move to downsize May 5, 2015 Battling with excess space and a revival at Tesco, Sainsbury’s is having to fight harder than ever. It is early on a weekday morning, and the first wave of customers are yet to arrive at Sainsbury’s revamped store in Wandsworth – its aisles stacked high with everything from garden furniture to Le Creuset-style saucepans [...]
WorleyParsons axes 2,000 jobs and cuts hours in face of oil price slide May 4, 2015 WorleyParsons, Australia’s largest oil services business, yesterday announced it was cutting 2,000 jobs and reducing work due to falling commodity prices. The firm, which has operations throughout the UK and the rest of Europe, forecast second-half earnings will fall about 50 per cent from the first half of the year. The Sydney-based company said that [...]
PwC to ditch A-level requirements to reach students from “wider pockets of society” May 4, 2015 Graduates will no longer need spotless A-level grades to land a job at accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The firm, one of the biggest graduate employers in the country, argued that by using Ucas points (a measure of a secondary school student's qualifications) to screen applicants, it was missing out on recruits from more disadvantaged backgrounds. [...]
Tidjane Thiam will be replaced by Mike Wells as Prudential chief exec May 1, 2015 Prudential has found its successor for departing chief executive Tidjane Thiam – and they haven't had to look too far. Mike Wells, head of the company's US arm Jackson National Life, will step into the role vacated by the popular Thiam, who is leaving to head up Credit Suisse. The 55-year-old will replace a resoundingly popular [...]
Rob Terry-backed broker Daniel Stewart’s shares suspended for a second time May 1, 2015 Shares in Daniel Stewart, the broker backed by Rob Terry, have been suspended for a second time after its in-house broker Westhouse Securities quit last month. The Aim-listed broker, which acts as a nominated adviser to other companies which want to join the Aim market, only had its shares restored earlier this month ending a five-month suspension [...]
Virgin Money eats up mortgage market share as lending rises May 1, 2015 The figures Virgin Money delivered a rise in mortgage lending and ate up a larger chunk of market share during the first quarter, cementing its position as one of the UK's fastest growing challenger banks. The lender said it enjoyed a 34 per cent rise in gross mortgage lending to £1.6bn at a time when [...]
Lloyds Bank profit increase pushes share price up, despite £660m loss over TSB sale May 1, 2015 The sale of TSB has come at a big price for Lloyds, but investors are undeterred. The figures Lloyds share price has gone up 3.38 per cent, after underlying pre-tax profit rose 21 per cent and beat analyst expectations. Lloyds Bank statutory profit before tax slipped 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, falling to [...]
City activists smell the scent of success: Edward Bramson’s showdown at Electra follows battles over Alliance Trust and John Menzies April 30, 2015 US corporate raider Edward Bramson is closing in on one of the UK’s oldest private equity groups, Electra, six months after he failed to capture the firm. The showdown comes amid a flurry of UK activist raids since the turn of the year, underscored by little-known fund Lakestreet Capital, which yesterday revealed it [...]
Martin Sorrell is best paid FTSE boss pocketing £43m but WPP braces for fresh shareholder row April 30, 2015 Global advertising giant WPP hiked chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell’s pay by 43 per cent for 2014, taking his awards to £43m and making him the best paid boss in the FTSE 100. The payout comes after years of shareholder rebellions at the firm’s annual general meetings. In 2012, a majority of shareholders voted against [...]