Amazon hands pay rise to 37,000 UK staff to take them above Living Wage October 2, 2018 Amazon is set to raise pay for UK staff above the Real Living Wage from the start of next month, expected to benefit around 37,000 workers. The retail giant – which recently hit a $1 trillion valuation – will pay London staff £10.50 per hour from 1 November and UK-wide staff £9.50 per hour. Read more: [...]
Debate: Given the Tory party’s proposal to ban restaurants from taking a share of staff tips, is regulation necessary? October 2, 2018 Debate: Given the Tory party’s proposal to ban restaurants from taking a share of staff tips, is regulation necessary? YES – Scott Corfe is chief economist at the Social Market Foundation. The rise of the service charge in UK restaurants has led to a great deal of confusion. Often listed as discretionary on bills, many [...]
Store wars: Aldi is in no mood to be Jack’s of all trades October 2, 2018 Aldi vowed to make Tesco discounter brand Jack’s a dull boy yesterday, saying it will remain the UK’s cheapest grocer. “It will be a real struggle for any more complex supermarket to successfully imitate our model let alone replicate it,” Giles Hurley, chief exec of Aldi UK and Ireland, said as he threw down the [...]
Shares in carpet and furniture retailer ScS get a boost as profits rise in full-year results October 2, 2018 Furniture and floorings retailer ScS got a boost to its share price this morning after it reported a strong growth in operating profits in its full-year results. Its share rose 6.5 per cent in early trading after it released the update. Read more: Ted Baker expected to boost revenues despite high street worries The figures In [...]
The Brolly and the Ivy: New Ivy restaurant prepares to open in Canary Wharf with heist-themed launch October 2, 2018 The latest instalment of Richard Caring’s Ivy Collection has opened for bookings, marked by a theatrical dance stunt themed around heist film The Thomas Crown Affair. Actors in bowler hats twirled umbrellas and danced to mark the upcoming launch of The Ivy in The Park, a new all-day dining brasserie at Canada Square, Canary Wharf, [...]
Revolution Bars shares fall as firm serves up operating loss in full-year results October 2, 2018 Revolution Bars slipped to an operating loss in its full-year results due to exceptional costs caused by "factors outside the company's control". The update hit the company's shares in early trading, as they opened four per cent down in early trading. The figures For the year up to 30 June 2018, like-for-like sales fell 0.6 [...]
Lavazza fills its cup with a multi-million pound coffee deal for Mars Drinks October 1, 2018 Italian coffee maker Lavazza is set to buy the coffee arm of food giant Mars, Mars Drinks, in a deal potentially worth around $650m (£499m). The acquisition, expected to close in December, will see Lavazza take over Mars' tabletop Flavia machines and the Klix freestanding vending machine business. Mars Drinks employs 900 people and turned over approximately $350 [...]
Former House of Fraser directors dismissed amid calls for an investigation October 1, 2018 The former directors and senior management of House of Fraser have been dismissed following the department store's collapse. Sports Direct, which bought the beleaguered high street chain for £90m in August, announced that it has sacked the former top team amid calls for an investigation into the company's spiral into administration. Read more: Mike Ashley blames landlords [...]
Campbell Soup can serve you better, hedgie tells investors October 1, 2018 Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb is using his activist hedge fund to woo Campbell Soup shareholders, saying the “iconic asset” was an attractive prospect for takeover and claiming it could fetch $58 (£44.50) per share. Loeb’s Third Point fund is pushing to replace all the food company’s directors, who it said had presided over “tenure of [...]
Selfridges posts record operating profit as investment programme pays off October 1, 2018 A major revamp has helped Selfridges increase sales by 11.5 per cent year-on-year, as operating profits rose to a record £181m for its latest financial year. The department store is now in the final 12 months of its four-year £300m investment programme, transforming its London store and increasing its digital capabilities. Read more: Analysts warn of Debenhams [...]