Original Travel’s chief executive reveals how its services stand out in a sea of travel companies January 23, 2017 Parents have 40 opportunities to go on a holiday with their children before they outgrow family outings according to travel company chief executive Nick Newbury. He points out that there’s only so much time in a year, and so much holiday leave in a job. As well as time constraints, pressure is mounting on consumers [...]
Lloyds private equity arm takes a cut of Rush hair salon January 22, 2017 The private equity arm of Lloyd's Banking Group has announced a £16m minority investment in Rush Hair and Beauty. Backing from LDC will provide support for the business's expansion plans. The hairdressing chain currently has 85 branches, primarily in London, Essex, and the South East. More recently, branches have opened across the country in key [...]
Pub landlords call on the Pubs Code Adjudicator to rule on Heineken’s Punch Taverns takeover January 22, 2017 Pub landlords have united to criticise Heineken's £400m takeover plans of Punch Taverns, which they say will result in reduced beer and cider options for customers. The Punch Tenant Network (PTN), an independent group that represents Punch's publicans, has made an appeal to Pubs Code Adjudicator Paul Newby to give guidance on whether the bid would trigger the [...]
Weak retail sales in December have pushed sterling below $1.23 January 20, 2017 The pound plummeted today after retail sales figures were much weaker than analysts expected. Sterling fell 0.47 per cent to 1.2284 against the US dollar. Sales in December fell by 1.9 per cent month-on-month – the largest monthly fall since May 2011 – which was considerably more than the 0.1 per cent drop analysts predicted, Martin Beck, senior economic advisor at EY said. [...]
Here’s how to get £10 off orders over £50 on Amazon (but it’s only today) January 20, 2017 Amazon has been ranked top of a nationwide poll for customer satisfaction among UK brands – and to thank its customers, it's offering them discounts. Hurrah. The online retailer's UK site came top of the UK Customer Satisfaction Index, with a score of 87.3 on the index. That was followed by M&S, P&O Cruises, Greggs [...]
The WSTA wants Theresa May to “empower” British drinks businesses by cutting the wine and spirit duty January 20, 2017 Following Theresa May's long-awaited speech on Brexit, The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) said the best way to "empower" the British drinks industry is a duty cut on wine and spirits. This comes as wine industry has been hit by the impact of historically high duty rates, higher inflation and the devaluation of the pound, [...]
British Fizz: A group is calling for protected status of English sparkling wine (and not everyone is popping a bottle open) January 20, 2017 Yesterday, the UK Vineyard Association said it was applying for protected status from the EU for English sparkling wine under the name "British Fizz", but a branding expert said the name could be an "unmitigated disaster" for the wine industry. Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status would boost the industry's fast-growing product by giving it recognisable, marketable terms [...]
Heineken is in talks to acquire Brasil Kirin, Brazil’s second-largest brewer January 20, 2017 Dutch brewing giant Heineken confirmed today it is in talks to purchase Brasil Kirin, Brazil’s second-largest brewer. Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported Heineken will pay around 100bn yen (£705.5m) for the business. Kirin said the report was not based on any comments made by the company. "These discussions are ongoing and there can be no certainty that [...]
Here are six things we learned about the travel industry from the latest ONS figures January 19, 2017 On the back of reports that the UK's travel industry is facing choppy waters in the year ahead, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today released figures on how the sector stacked up over the period from July to September 2016. Here are the most interesting things we learned. 1. North Americans are showing a growing interest in Britain [...]
In the doghouse? Pets at Home shares fall on softer merchandise sales January 19, 2017 Pets at Home's latest update announced "softer than anticipated" merchandise sales – knocking its share price down more than nine per cent, at the time of writing, to 216.40p. The figures Group revenue rose 4.4 per cent to £203.7m, though merchandise revenues were flat at £177.4m. The growth was propelled by its services business (including veterinary practices [...]