Much-talked about £6m lawsuit by The Wolseley owner against insurance giant AXA starts in court January 26, 2022 A much-talked about lawsuit by the owner of The Wolseley and a range of other upmarket restaurants around London against insurance giant AXA has started in London’s High Court. Corbin & King is brining the £6m lawsuit to AXA Insurance over Covid-related losses, in a trial that could have wider ramifications for other UK businesses [...]
Pets at Home hikes profit guidance as it outlines mitigations for inflationary pressures January 26, 2022 Pets at Home has upgraded its profit guidance in the wake of rising revenues. In a trading update for the 12 weeks to 30 December, the pet care business posted total Group revenue growth of 5.8 per cent to £319.4m. It said group like-for-like revenue was up 8.7 per cent compared to 2020. In comparison [...]
Playtech mulls breaking up to sell off parts if Aristocrat takeover fails January 25, 2022 Playtech is reportedly considering breaking up and selling off its operations, if the £2.7bn takeover by Australia’s Aristocrat falls through. The deal risks being blocked by a group of Asian shareholders, according to Sky News’ Mark Kleinman last night, a collective which own around a quarter of Playtech’s stock. The London-listed online gaming group sold [...]
City barbers snip opening hours in absence of office workers January 25, 2022 Barbers in the City of London say their businesses will never be the same after the uptake of working from home. Businesses have suffered with the absence of City workers getting lunch break trims and after-work blow drys, all while having to pay London rent. Even with Omicron measures to ease this week, barbers said [...]
Unilever slashes 1,500 jobs worldwide as part of ambitious global restructure plan January 25, 2022 Unilever said this morning it is planning a group-wide overhaul which will result in around 1,500 job cuts globally. The Marmite-to-Dove soap maker is planning to axe around 15% of senior management roles and 5% of more junior management roles under a restructure to create five business divisions. It said the jobs will go across [...]
Cake Box shares recovering after plummeting when blogger found accounts errors January 25, 2022 Sweet-treat maker Cake Box lost almost a fifth of its market value after errors in its annual report were spotted by a blogger. In a post over the weekend, blogger Maynard Paton identified mistakes in the company’s 2021 annual report. Its share price slipped 18 per cent, to 267p yesterday. However, on Tuesday morning its [...]
Marston’s Christmas sales disappoint but restrictions lifting will enable ‘some semblance of normal trade’ January 25, 2022 Marston’s misses out on bountiful Christmas but signs show consumer confidence ‘rebuilding’ Pub operator Marston’s has joined other hospitality chains in reporting a disappointing Christmas trading period, with sales dipping. In a trading update for the 16 weeks to 12 January 2022, total like-for-like sales were down 3.9 per cent compared to the 2019 financial [...]
Inverleith takes stake in Eden Mill St Andrews craft gin and Scotch whisky company to build UK’s first carbon-neutral distillery January 25, 2022 Edinburgh-based, specialist, consumer-brand investor Inverleith has secured a majority stake in the Eden Mill St Andrews craft gin and Scotch whisky company. The drinks firm is planning to build a new carbon-neutral, whisky distillery, the first in the UK. It plans to build a new whisky distillery in St Andrews, with founder and managing director, [...]
Brewdog boss accused of inappropriate behaviour by staff in BBC documentary January 24, 2022 Brewdog’s boss has been accused of behaving inappropriately with female staff and customers by former employees. In BBC’s Disclosure documentary, several members of the Brewdog’s US staff said they saw CEO and co-founder James Watt giving private, late-night tours of the US brewery to customers. Dylan Gray, a former manager at Brewdog Franklinton in Ohio, [...]
Gorillas goes global as delivery firm enters Frichti acquisition talks January 24, 2022 Instant delivery firm Gorillas announced it is entering acquisition talks with French delivery titan Frichti. Frichti is one of the first rapid delivery start-ups to have hit profitable operations after launching in 2015. If Gorillas were to acquire its French counter-part, Gorillas would be able to strengthen its foothold in France. It has already opened [...]