Sports Direct slams ‘greedy’ House of Fraser landlords August 28, 2018 Mike Ashley's Sports Direct has slammed "greedy landlords" as the group conducts discussions over the future of 59 House of Fraser stores. Several branches of the department store chain which were due to close in early 2019 have been given a reprieve after the new owners negotiated with landlords. But the fate of several shops [...]
Brewdog temporarily takes down parody porn site after backlash August 28, 2018 Brewdog has pulled a parody porn site from the internet to "tweak" it after a backlash from beer fans. The pugnacious Scottish brewer, known for its attention-grabbing marketing initiatives, announced yesterday that it had launched a parody porn website under the URL beer.porn, which showcased videos from its new streaming network under sexually suggestive titles. [...]
Sports Direct named least reputable retailer in annual rankings while Amazon takes top spot August 28, 2018 Sports Direct has been named the least reputable retailer in the UK after a survey of consumer attitudes. The sports gear retailer languished at the bottom of the rankings compiled by the Reputation Institute for its annual UK Retail RepTrack. Sports Direct scored poorly on four measures: workplace, governance, citizenship and leadership. It comes just weeks after [...]
Ryanair will charge you for 10kg hand luggage from November August 24, 2018 Ryanair passengers will have to make do with one item of carry-on baggage from November – unless they want to pay. The reason behind the move is "to eliminate boarding/flight delays", according to the budget airline. Nevertheless, passengers will have to pay £6 to add a 10kg cabin bag to their carry-on, with tickets otherwise [...]
Foot Locker steps up its game to beat analyst expectations August 24, 2018 Foot Locker surpassed Wall Street expectations today as it reported higher than predicted growth in both sales and earnings. The figures The sports retailer saw sales grow 4.8 per cent to $1.78bn (£1.39bn) in the three months to 4 August, pipping analyst estimates. Meanwhile net income climbed to $88m, compared to just $51m in the [...]
TGI Friday’s private equity owner Electra ends buyout talks August 24, 2018 UK private equity firm Electra which owns TGI Friday’s today confirmed it had ended talks about a possible buyout of the company. Electra did not say who the interested parties were, but it had been talks about a possible sale since May. Read more: CEE private equity investment hits record high It said talks for [...]
Exclusive: Banking groups Investec and SC Lowy move to rescue Gaucho after buying up debt August 24, 2018 Two banking groups are closing in on an acquisition of Gaucho after buying out debt from the collapsed restaurant chain's other lenders, City A.M. understands. Investec and Hong Kong-based SC Lowy are now moving to buy Gaucho from administrators Deloitte after buying the debt of other lending banks in Gaucho's syndicate. An Investec spokesperson told City A.M.: "Investec [...]
Two House of Fraser distribution centres have reopened August 24, 2018 Two of House of Fraser's distribution centres have re-opened after a dispute with its logistics provider resulted in customer orders being cancelled. The sites in Wellingborough and Milton Keynes have re-opened today, Drapers reported. This follows a weeks-long standoff with XPO Logistics, which owns and operates the warehouses. Earlier this week, The Times reported that Mike [...]
Dragons’ Den tycoon to sell a substantial stake in his £350m health and leisure business August 23, 2018 Former Dragon's Den investor Duncan Bannatyne is shopping around a "substantial" minority stake in his hotel-to-gym empire, which could value the business at £350m. Two years on from an abandoned flotation of the business, Bannatyne has hired DC Advisory to attract entrepreneurs towards his health and fitness chain Bannatyne Group, Sky News first reported. The group itself [...]
Chinese behemoth Alibaba hails significant revenue hike, despite profit blip August 23, 2018 Alibaba today bolstered its position as China’s largest online retailer, revealing revenue growth of 61 per cent for its first quarter. The group published an income of 80.9bn yuan (£9.2bn) in the three months ending June, marginally ahead of forecasts, and an increase in customers on the Taobao shopping platform as 576m people flocked to the website and app, up four [...]